County Seeking Federal Funds for Veterans Park Trail

Hardly a day goes by when someone doesn’t ask him when the walking trail at Veterans Park will be completed, Oconee County Parks and Recreation Department Director John Gentry told the Board of Commissioners at its meeting on Nov. 6.

That trail now dead ends abruptly behind the soccer fields on the eastern side of the popular park on Hog Mountain Road west of Butler’s Crossing.

Late last week, following approval by the BOC at that Nov. 6 meeting, Gentry submitted an application for $68,000 in  federal funds that would allow him to complete the trail when the monies become available in Fiscal Year 2014, which begins on July 1 of next year.

The county must contribute $17,000 as a match for those federal funds. The BOC agreed to take those monies from the Special Purpose Local Options Sales Tax account approved by voters in 2009.

Following the unanimous vote by the commissioners on Nov. 6, Gentry said he was speaking for walkers, bikers and “baby stroller pushers” in the county in offering his statement of thanks for the vote.

For maps and other details of the proposal, go to Oconee County Observations.