Walhalla gives greenway updates

As a Walhalla business prepares to host a town meeting, city government has issued an announcement on the plans to build a greenway.  Opponents and those concerned about the impact of the project are expected to air their feelings at a meeting this evening at Benson Feed and Seed, and the city announces that its engineer has been told to hold off on finalizing anything affecting Benson’s until a meeting takes place and a solution is reached.  A site visit this month identified areas of concern at the library parking, the agricultural building parking, the magistrate court parking, and Benson’s Feed and Seed parking.  As time has arrived for Walhalla to sink money into the project, there’s division within the city council. First-term Councilman Keehn has been especially critical of Mayor Edwards’ project support.  The city yesterday released the following additional information:  “Planning for the Walhalla Greenway was conceived several years ago as a way to tie downtown Walhalla to Stumphouse Mountain Bike Park/Palmetto Trail.  The Greenway was planned to encircle downtown Walhalla along North and South Broad Streets.  An application in late 2019 was made to Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) for federal funding to begin the first phase of the Walhalla Greenway.  Walhalla was notified in August of 2020 that a 50% matching grant was approved for $500,000 and will be administered by Appalachian Council of Governments (ACOG). The initial application proposed that a greenway (Phase 1) be constructed with an estimated cost of $1.15 million with the city matching $651,000.  The grant matches construction, as the city will be responsible for covering engineering costs.  Goodwyn, Mills and Caewood  was selected as project engineer in Feb 2021 and began design work for Phase 1.  Pursuant to the grant agreement a fund (bank account) was established in June 2021 in order to make payments and receive grant funds as work progresses.  An open house was held in October 2021 at Walhalla Depot to unveil the greenway conceptual plans and field comments and questions….”