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By NOAH WORTHAM | Staff Writer

ALABASTER – The Alabaster City Council has approved the purchase of property for the connection of a trail system between Thompson High School and Municipal Park.

During a city council meeting on Monday, May 8, the council approved a resolution approving the purchase of property in the amount of 14,000 for the connection of a trail system between THS and Municipal Park.

“The trail has two legs,” City Administrator Brian Binzer said. “One is just a sidewalk that’s going to take you from Thompson Road to the middle school. From the middle school, it’s going to turn into a multipurpose trail that’s going to follow all the way up warrior drive to our Municipal Park. Then you’re going to go up by the tennis courts on that side of the road all the way up the driveway to the soccer field that’s at the top of the hill.”

From that point on the trail will go into the woods between Kentwood and Southwind neighborhoods.

“There’s already a path that kids are using, people are using to get to the high school,” Binzer said. “We’re going to formalize it with a paved, multipurpose path to the high school that is going to empty out behind the student parking lot on that side of the school.”

According to Binzer, there was a pinch point in the trail system that belonged to a private property owner.

“We’ve worked with this property owner for the past year and a half, he’s an agreeable seller and so we’ll purchase his property and its’s going to make the path wide enough that we can actually put it in,” Binzer said.

With the piece of property purchased, the next step for the city is for the Alabama Department of Transportation to approve the city’s engineering and set the time for the project to go out to bid.

The trail system is estimated to be completed sometime in the fall of 2024.

Binzer shared that there are also potential future plans for once the first project is done.

“We’re also going to design a trail that’s going to get down to Veterans Park,” Binzer said. “Another leg is going to gup to Patriots Park which is on the north part of the city. That’s a future plan. The whole idea is now we’re going to link a bunch of neighborhoods to parks, to schools, to city amenities.”

Councilmember Jamie Cole expressed his enthusiasm for the trail system.

“I’ve talked with Ward 5 residents about this over the years, and it’s a goal to connect all our parks, neighborhood and schools and most of those are in Ward 5,” Cole said. “This is an exciting project and a goal for me.”

Those who wish to keep up to date with projects in the city of Alabaster may follow its official Facebook page at Facebook.com/alabastercityhall