There is about $10 million in the $90 million parks bond referendum approved by Cherokee voters in 2008 set aside for greenspace.
Commission Chairman Buzz Ahrens said the board was first focused on acquiring land for active parks with the bond. Now that the board has acquired some properties, he said they are looking at greenspace.
Conversation about the greenspace needs started during a board of commissioner work session earlier this month.
"It was just to get the thought process moving forward," Ahrens said. He said the county has had 20 to 30 parcels submitted for its consideration. The board had county staff chart the parcels on a map to give them a visual of all the potential greenspace projects.
"They are different sizes, different types, basically all over the county," Ahrens said about the parcels that have been submitted. He said the next step will be to establish some criteria for ranking and selecting the properties "before we cut a check."
Commissioner Jim Hubbard said the commissioners will need to look at all the properties and determine how to maximize its money.
"We want to try to spread it out to the different areas of the county. We'd love to buy them all, but we can't," he said about all the properties. "This is a major undertaking. We want to make sure we are doing it right."
Trail connectivity is one major criteria the board is looking at, but Commissioner Harry Johnston said the greenspace program should have a balance of several uses.
"A balanced greenspace program includes connectivity of trails as well as wilderness areas, waterway protection and historic preservation," he said.
Johnston said some priority areas for him include the Sutallee Trace area, which has a trail head in Boling Park, some areas around Garland Mountain in the northwest part of the county and connecting trails from Boling Park in Canton north along the Etowah River to the land on Alison Lane north of Canton. The county bought that land last year as a future site of an active park.
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