What will the future hold for the Kings Mountain Gateway Trail?

For 15 years, the Kings Mountain Gateway Trail has been providing outdoor recreation opportunities on Battleground Avenue to locals and visitors.

Located near Albemarle's mining operations, the trail will see some future changes as plans move forward to begin mining for lithium again for the first time in 40 years.

Kirsten Martin with Albemarle Community Affairs said Albemarle wanted to keep people updated on the plans for the Gateway Trail and prevent misinformation.

The paved loops, which includes Cardio Hill, the Plateau and the butterfly garden, will remain open and the gravel Foote Trail will eventually close but not before a new trail is created.

Albemarle has been working with the Gateway Trail on the project for close to two years.

"When we announced the project in March 2022, we alerted everyone that that section of the Foote Trail would need to be relocated," Martin said. "We can't operate safely with people on that trail."

She said there is no timeline for the Foote Trail to close, and it will not be closing any time soon.

Martin said one of the first and most important things they did was to work with Shirley Brutko, executive director of the Gateway Trail, and trail board members to create a vision for what a new trail would look like.

"We knew we had an opportunity there to do more," she said.

She emphasized that Albemarle will not own the trail or manage it, but their role is to help facilitate, build and enable future work on the trail.

"We've tried to help lead those efforts and make sure we can build something bigger and better than what we have today," Martin said.

She said there is talk about adding butterfly gardens, parks, more access points and green spaces.

Martin said they have had a lot of conversations about what the trail could look like and compared it to the Swamp Rabbit Trail in Greenville, South Carolina. She said they have discussed how to involve small businesses, other recreation that could connect to the trail, different types of gardens, art and education elements.

Brutko said the vision for the future trail is for it to go south toward Crowders Mountain and Kings Mountain Military and State Parks.

"That has always been the vision and continues to be the vision," she said.

Brutko said the Gateway Trail, which will be 15 this year, has become a popular destination, and they have between 60,000 to 80,000 visitors on the trail each year, drawing in not only locals but people from Charlotte and South Carolina. She said the Foote Trail, which is a 4-mile, gravel out-and-back, is popular with runners and bikers.

She said the the trail has a management team with a ranger, director, executive board and a committee which meets about once a month. Events are scheduled year-round, including an upcoming trail race, eclipse viewing, sunset bike ride and more.

Brutko said the trail will be adding a new electric gate and new electric doors for the restroom, and they just installed 10 new bluebird houses making it a bluebird destination.

Martin said Albemarle is continuing to maintain the trail by doing erosion control, repacking gravel, and making upgrades - such as the addition of automatic gates.

"We're continuing to maintain and expand what we have now," she said.

Brutko said there have been some concerns in the community about trail changes disturbing nature, since there is a lot of wildlife seen on the Foote Trail. Martin said part of their permitting process involves a wildlife mitigation plan.

"The possible trail that will replace the four and a half mile trail, wildlife will be able to go where the new trail will be," Brutko said. "It will be adjacent hopefully. So we're not worried about that right now. I think the new section that will be built will be just as exciting as the old one."

In the meantime, the current Gateway Trail continues to see improvements and additions. Brutko said there are plans this year to add a step trail, much like the one at Crowders Mountain, up to the top of Plateau.

Martin said they would like to begin as quickly as possible but before that can happen, they are waiting on the city of Kings Mountain to complete its new master parks and recreation plan since they want to be aligned with that plan. She said the Foote Trail will remain open in the meantime.

She said Albemarle will be sharing more details with the community about the trail plans later this year.

Reporter Rebecca Sitzes can be reached at rsitzes@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on The Shelby Star: What will the future hold for the Kings Mountain Gateway Trail?