Area leaders ask state's U.S. officials to support proposed trail grant

Jun. 9—Editor's Note: Second in an ongoing series about the proposed 13.6-mile Albany-to-Sasser recreation trail that would connect downtown Albany with the Terrell County Sasser community and pass through Lee County.

ALBANY — Albany, Dougherty County, Lee County, Sasser and Terrell County officials have sent a letter to Sens. Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock and Rep. Sanford Bishop asking the officials to support the city of Albany's RAISE grant application seeking funding to complete a 13.6-mile recreation trail that would link downtown Albany with the Sasser community in Terrell County and pass through a six-mile stretch in Lee County.

A copy of the letter, obtained by The Albany Herald through an Open Records request, lists signees as Albany Mayor Kermit "Bo" Dorough, Dougherty County Commission Chairman Chris Cohilas, Terrell County Commission Chairman Wilbur T. Gamble, Sasser Mayor Jan Jones and Lee County Commission Chairman Billy Mathis.

The letter says that the trail would "benefit tourism and economic development initiatives in the region and have a positive influence on property values at or near the facility. The trail system will provide both health and recreational opportunities and offer critical transportation alternatives for disadvantaged and underserved citizens to access shopping and employment centers in addition to repurposing a former rail corridor."

Completion of the trail is the subject of a $7 million breach of contract lawsuit filed by the South Georgia Rails to Trails group accusing the city of Albany of failing to meet its obligation of completing a trail on the rail bed purchased from SGRT for $150,000 with the stipulation that the city complete the trail in five years. The agreement between the city and the Rails to Trails group was signed on April 30, 2015. The lawsuit was filed on Aug. 19, 2020.

Only two of the commissioners on the current Albany City Commission were members of that board when the agreement was signed. New commissioners have expressed interest in the benefits of the trail but contend the project is of lower priority than others in the city.

There also is an unanswered question of the trail's surface, of which a number of possibilities have been discussed but none agreed upon by officials with a stake in the trail.

Dorough said that while the city failed in the seven years since the agreement with SGRT was signed to seek available state and federal funding, the RAISE grant is vital to the future of the project.

"We have funding for our (20%) grant match, but I don't see how we would fund this project as SGRT wants it without approval of the RAISE grant," Dorough said. "SGRT's contention (in the lawsuit) is that the city did use the land adjacent to the rail trail for gas lines, internet and fiber optics but did not fulfill their part of the bargain, and that is fact. But there's been no agreement between all parties about the surface of the trail.

"There's no question this project would be beneficial from a quality-of-life standpoint. But talking with (assistant city manager) Yvette Fields at the end of last year, she noted that there will be up to a 25% increase in construction costs by the end of this year. We've got to come up with a way of doing this within the budget we have. To do that, we have to determine what obligations the city has."

Albany City Attorney Nathan Davis agreed that the RAISE grant offers the best hope for moving the project forward.

"I commend (Planning Services Director) Paul Forgey and his team for the yeoman's job they did in putting the RAISE grant application together," Davis said. "A favorable decision on that application would be the catalyst we need to get the construction going."

The letter to the federal officials reads:

Dear Senators Ossoff and Warnock and Congressman Bishop:

With this correspondence we are asking for your support for the above-stated application filed by the City of Albany, Georgia under the Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity (RAISE) Discretionary Grant Program. The project, identified as the Albany Sasser Rail Trail, is a 13.62 mile (176 acres) Surface Transportation Board railbanked section of the Flint River Trail System owned by the City of Albany and is eligible under Chapter 53 of Title 49 of the United States Code as a significant public recreation and active transportation project in the southwest Georgia region. Once completed, the trail will complete a significant portion of the Flint River Trail System, creating over 26 miles of continuous multi-use trails beginning at a trailhead in the Town of Sasser, Georgia (Terrell County) and continuing through the counties of Terrell, Lee and Dougherty to Downtown Albany and ending at a trailhead at historic Radium Springs in Dougherty County. All sections of this multi-jurisdictional Flint River Trail System, other than the Albany Sasser Rail Trail, are either funded, completed or out for bid.

The completed Albany Sasser Rail Trail will benefit tourism and economic development initiatives in the region and have a positive influence on property values at or near the facility. The trail system will provide both health and recreational opportunities and offer critical transportation alternatives for disadvantaged and underserved citizens to access shopping and employment centers in addition to repurposing a former rail corridor.

The proposed project has been designed, and pending environmental review, is ready to construct. The RAISE grant funding request of $14,612,022 for the Albany Sasser Rail Trail will be matched by a twenty percent (20%) contribution ($3,653,005) from the City of Albany with a total project cost of $18,265,027. When complete, the rail trail will expand the Flint River Trail System into a regional destination. This railbanked corridor is similar to the railbanked corridor known as the Delta Heritage Trail that connected rural communities in Arkansas. The Arkansas project was funded through a 2021 RAISE Grant Application in the amount of $20,482,208 and it comprised 13.4 miles of railbanked property.

Awards for funding of 2022 applications will be made and announced in the early fall of 2022 of this year. Your support for this multi-jurisdictional project for southwest Georgia will certainly be appreciated and enhance the value of the application.

Thank you for all you do for our region and for the citizens of the state of Georgia.

Officials with South Georgia Rails to Trails have acknowledged the RAISE grant as a best option to complete the trail and have essentially put their lawsuit on hold (so that the statute of limitations is not affected) while the grant goes through the application process. But, if the grant is not approved, Dougherty County Attorney Spencer Lee, who also is a principle in SGRT, said the suit would be refiled.

"If the RAISE grant is approved, the trail gets built," Lee said. "If it isn't, we'll litigate."