WOODSTOCK, GA — The city of Woodstock has given the green light for Cherokee County to explore what it would take to connect the wildly popular Towne Lake Pass Trail with another key area on the west side of town. The Woodstock City Council was briefed on the initiative at its Monday, March 19 meeting by Cherokee County District 2 Commissioner Scott Gordon.

Gordon said the county is in the midst of doing engineering work to determine what it would take to connect the Towne Lake Pass Trail with the pedestrian crosswalk along Towne Lake Parkway at Buckhead Crossing. Gordon said the county is in the early stages of understanding right-of-way needs and cross connection points to make this successful. Geoff Morton, the county's engineer and Public Works Agency director, said the proposed path would run along a sanitary sewer easement from a segment of the Towne Lake Pass Trail and connect near the pedestrian crossing near Chili's and QuikTrip. The path would also require the construction of a boardwalk to go over a portion of Noonday Creek.

"It's a pretty easy connection to Towne Lake Parkway at Buckhead Crossing," Morton added, noting the design cost for the project would be about $500,000 (For more news like this, find your local Patch here. If you have an iPhone, click here to get the free Patch iPhone app; download the free Patch Android app here). Towne Lake Pass, which was constructed in conjunction with Cherokee County, runs from Woofstock Park to Towne Lake Hills South. Cherokee County commissioners in December 2016 approved a $2.86 million contract with Integrated Construction & Nobility, Inc. to construct the trail.

The path runs from the dog park, under Interstate 575 and through the wooded area near Woodstock Middle and High schools until it reaches Towne Lake Hills South. It connects Towne Lake residents to the Noonday Creek Trail, which runs from Market Street in downtown Woodstock to Highway 92. The project also installed sidewalks along Towne Lake Hills Drive South from the trailhead to the schools and Towne Lake Hills South Drive to Towne Lake Parkway. The city held a ribbon cutting in early January to celebrate the trail's opening.

The project was funded using Woodstock's portion of the county's 2008 parks bond proceeds. In 2016, Woodstock City Council members and county commissioners approved a joint resolution dedicating the trail to former Woodstock City Council member Tessa Basford, who passed away in 2014. Basford's family members were also on hand for the Jan. 4 ribbon cutting.

Current parking and access to the trail is dicey, as residents have to drive to Woofstock Park, the middle and high schools or downtown to access the trail heads. Providing a connection point near Buckhead Crossing will, no doubt, cut down on the amount of cars getting on the road to access the paths.

With more than 800 homes in Deer Run, a few apartment complexes and shopping centers in Towne Lake, Gordon said he didn't think "it would be a stretch" to say any extension would reach between 2,000 and 3,000 rooftops and tens of thousands of users. If everything proceeds smoothly, Gordon said construction on the Buckhead Crossing connection could begin as early as the end of 2018 and the project could be done in 18 to 24 months. As part of a longer range project, Morton said Cherokee County is also starting the design process that would connect the Towne Lake Pass Trail to Hobgood Park. Plans call for starting the path at Towne Lake Hills South and Parkside Lane, and continuing along Parkside Lane and the west side of Towne Lake Parkway until it reaches Hobgood Park at the corner of Bells Ferry Road.