Council looks at Greenway contract

GAINESVILLE - A $1-million plus plan to further develop Gainesville's Midtown Greenway was reviewed by City Council Thursday, but part of the project funding is cut for cost savings.

Special Projects manager Jessica Tullar with Gainesville Community Development said the project would be done in phases and the plan is still in place to improve the upper north fork of Flat Creek and the Greenway, which run together downtown.

"We're going to focus our current funding toward finishing our first phase which runs from American Red Cross down to MLK," Tullar said.

Tullar expects Council to approve the Greenway and creek improvement plan at its meeting next Tuesday. An initial approved bid of $1.6-million was reduced to $1.4-million.Council accepted a state environmental protection division grant of $405,000 in February last year and matched it with $270,000 from the City's Public Utilities Capital Project fund.

The project includes stream restoration, new multi-use trails, sidewalks and Midtown parking.

"It's going to take approximately 200 days from the time we award the contract to actually improve the north fork of the stream that runs into Flat Creek that adjoins the old CSX rail line, plus the Maintenance Yard project which is a trail head park and greenway," Tullar added. "With road crossings and signage and benches it will be a finished product."

Tullar said it is important to restore the stream to its natural flow; that work would have cut into the Greenway.

"We felt it was prudent of the City to wait until the stream restoration was designed and constructed before we put in the Greenway so we didn't have to rip up something and waste money," Tullar said.

Tullar said private developers are already improving Midtown so the Greenway project will further spur development. For the exercise prone, there will eventually be a walkway all the way through Gainesville beginning at Lake Lanier.

"Eventually it will connect with Longwood Park and go all the way down to Chicopee Woods", according to Tullar. "When we get Phase One completed folks can go from the Lake through downtown to MLK and turn around and go back."

http://accesswdun.com/article/2011/8/241030