Soddy Daisy Rails to Trails

The Soddy-Daisy Rails to Trails Advocacy Group is now the official name of at least two dozen volunteers who have been working to convert old rail lines to a recreational pathway.
“We’ve hit the ground running in 2009,” said co-chair Laura Oakley. “Our committees are now formed,”
A Web Site, www.soddydaisyrailstotrails.com, has been launched with information including a proposed trail map for the roughly 6-mile project. Mrs. Oakley said periodic updates would be available on the site.
Meeting agendas, minutes, task lists and other information will be distributed through a Yahoo group at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/soddydaisyrailtotrails/, she said.
At this stage the Soddy-Daisy Rails to Trails Advocacy Group is preparing a detailed application for land use to TVA, which owns the property.
“It will probably be not only a land-use application document,” Mrs. Oakley said. “With that hopefully we’ll be answering (Hamilton County) Mayor (Claude) Ramsey and now (Soddy-Daisy) Mayor (Geno) Shipley’s questions.”
The county and city mayors both have to sign off on the application, which Mrs. Oakley said will function as a permission slip.
Both mayors and several Soddy-Daisy Commission members have expressed reservations.
Jim Adams, Soddy-Daisy Commission member and Rails to Trails Advocacy Group advisor, said those concerns are being addressed during the application process.
“There were about 9 to 10 questions that need to be answered,” he said. “We’re in the process of answering them.”
Most important may be the fact that the group is requesting no money from the city or county, Mr. Adams said. The $5,000 application fee to TVA was covered by a Lyndhurst Foundation grant.
Another concern is safety and the associated costs. Mrs. Oakley said the group has requested information from the Hamilton County Sherriff’s Office and Chattanooga Police Department on what types of calls they’ve received for the Riverpark.
Mrs. Oakley pointed out the proposal is a much shorter trail in a rural area. She suggested that unless those departments had calls requiring extraordinary measures there would be no reason to believe Soddy-Daisy or North Hamilton County would.
“What makes common sense is that from dawn to dusk the trail would be open,” she said.
Another question was the safety of people on the trail where it crossed driveways. The trail would be concrete, essentially a wide sidewalk. Mrs. Oakley said people have adapted to new sidewalks and they would do with same with the trail. - Times Free Press