Brushy Creek Greenway Gets Big Boost

The city's planned Brushy Creek Greenway project recently received some finanical support from the state.

The city was recently awarded a $75,000 Parks, Recreation and Tourism grant to use toward the creation of the greenway, according to City Administrator Fox Simons.

The Brushy Creek Greenway path is a corridor that will connect connecting neighborhoods, the hospital, downtown Easley, schools, retail shops and churches.

“The grant has to be spent on the Brushy Creek Greenway,” Simons said. “It can't be used for the Doodle Line project or anything else.”

Officials hope to begin the first phase of the Greenway at the J.B. “Red” Owens Complex and work the trail back towards downtown.

The city has $534,000 in Transportation Enhancement Funding, funds given from the Department of Transportation and allocated through the Greenville Pickens Area Transportation Study.

“It's earmarked for the City of Easley,” Simons said.

That requires a 20 percent match from the city - $133,000 according to GPATS matching funds formulas.

The city has money in the budget that could be used to provide the required match, Simons said.

Those funds combined gives the city a pot of funds equaling about $750,000.

“That'll get us a long ways, hopefully, on the Greenway,” Simons said.

Many questions remain to be answered, including the timing of the project, Simons said.

“There's a lot of legwork that still needs to be done,” he said. “Impacts, engineering, bridges. It's not going to go in the ground tomorrow. But it's definitely a very positive step – a first step.”

Simons said he would be meeting with grant officials this afternoon to talk about the $75k PRT grant, including whether or not the city will be required to provide a match in order to receive the funds.

“How do we proceed from here?” he said.