News

City wins $375,000 grant for Clear Creek Greenway

Map shows Clear Creek Greenway extending from Berkeley Park over Mud Creek and following Clear Creek to Carolina Village and Lakewood Road.

By Lightning Reports, Published: November 14, 2020

The city of Hendersonville has received another large grant to support construction of the Clear Creek Greenway, which would extend north from the existing Oklawaha trail to Carolina Village and pass under I-26 to Lakewood Road.

City staffers notified the City Council that the state Parks and Recreation Trust Fund had authorized a $376,000 grant for the project. The council accepted the grant and approved the agreement with the N.C. Department of Natural and Cultural Resources during a special called meeting on Wednesday.

The allocation is at least the third major grant the city has received for the greenway extension. The project ranked third among 19 applications cities and counties submitted for Federal Highway Administration money for greenway and sidewalk projects in the four-county French Broad MPO area.

The MPO, the regional planning authority that distributes state and federal transportation money, approved $1.96 million for the Clear Creek Greenway and $5 million for the first three phases of the Ecusta Trail, from Hendersonville to Horse Shoe, in August.

The PARTF grant has a local match of $989,590, which comes from donations and other grants, including the $1.96 million grant through the MPO and a $150,000 grant from the Water Resources Development Fund through the state Department of Environmental Quality.

With the match, the total allocation for the new bike-ped trail would be $1,365,590. The N.C. Parks and Recreation Authority last month awarded $5,248,683 in grants to 17 cities and counties. Hendersonville was the only local government unit in Western North Carolina to win a PARTF grant.

The first leg of the Clear Creek Greenway would run 4,000 feet from the existing Oklawaha trail at Berkeley Park to Carolina Village. Cost of that phase was projected in April 2019 at $1.3 million. The 10-foot wide paved path would follow along Clear Creek to Carolina Village and would include a pedestrian bridge over Mud Creek, benches, emergency blue light stations, additional recreational amenities and a flashing pedestrian crossing sign and high visibility markings where the greenway crosses Clear Creek Road. Carolina Village has pledged $250,000 to the Clear Creek Greenway, a donation that would cover most of the required local match of $320,000.