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Governments scramble to make Big Creek Greenway whole By SYDNEY DANGREMOND sydney@appenmedia.com FORSYTH COUNTY, Ga. — Spanning more than 20 miles from Roswell to the Sawnee Mountain Preserve in Forsyth County, the Big Creek Greenway connects thousands of people in Metro Atlanta. After years of steady progress, the City of Alpharetta finally, if not temporarily, closed its chapter on the Greenway in June with the last leg of its trail completed near the border with Forsyth County. It took the city almost three years and $11 million to complete the final 2.8 miles of trail running from Marconi Drive north to Union Hill Road. The final link into Forsyth County will have to wait because of road widening work along McGinnis Ferry Road. Alpharetta took the initiative in July to build a makeshift Greenway connector to the county line, extending about 800 feet. Alpharetta Parks and Recreation Director Morgan Rodgers said the connection took city workers about a week to complete, and it ended up costing the city almost nothing. “It was a very timely and a very costeffective temporary connection,” Rodgers said. “We’re real proud of the Public Works folks for thinking outside the box, or, in this case, off the trail.” Alpharetta Public Works Director Pete Sewczwicz told the City Council in July the makeshift connection would cost about $275,000. But it turned out, his department was able to lay the path
Milton, Alpharetta restore parks pact for softball, lacrosse youth travel teams By CHAMIAN CRUZ chamian@appenmedia.com
FILE PHOTO
Cyclists navigate a turn near the Union Hill trailhead of the Big Creek Greenway. using asphalt millings donated and delivered to the site by a contractor for free. Millings are the debris left after a road is prepared for resurfacing, and they are usually discarded. In this case, the Public Works De-
partment applied a bonding agent with the millings to form the temporary path, suitable for feet and bicycles, but not durable enough for motor vehicles.
See GREENWAY, Page 4
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MILTON, Ga. — Milton and Alpharetta have come to an agreement after months of negotiations to make their youth softball and lacrosse programs more affordable for residents of either city. The Milton City Council approved a memorandum of understanding Nov. 1, officially waiving non-resident fees for Alpharetta youth participating in lacrosse travel teams hosted in Milton parks. Alpharetta adopted the same arrangement last month, waiving non-resident fees for Milton youth participating in its softball programs. Currently, Alpharetta offers youth recreational and travel softball to its residents through the Alpharetta Youth Softball Association, and Milton offers youth lacrosse through Eagle Stix and North Georgia Recreation. The agreement is a major step in re-establishing a shared youth sports program that ran between the two cities until January 2019. In 2018, the last full year of the joint programming, Milton residents
See PROGRAMS, Page 2