A proposed trail connecting the Greater Hazleton Rails to Trails to Weatherly’s trail into the Lehigh Gorge generated a lot of interest with more than two dozen people attending a kickoff meeting on Friday morning.

Representatives from the Greater Hazleton Area Civic Partnership, which oversees the Hazleton trail, presented a $7,500 check to Weatherly Borough Manager Harold Pudliner finalizing the collaboration.

The check represents the 15% match for a state Department of Community and Economic Development Greenways, Trail, and Recreation grant for a feasibility study to determine where a connector trail could go.

The borough applied for the $50,000 state grant and agreed to administer the grant, hiring Barry Isett & Associates to perform the study.

For its part, the Civic Partnership committed the match with assistance from the Luzerne Foundation, which supports nonprofits and community projects.

“I think this is a very important juncture in both our trail developments, where Hazleton now has an opportunity to get to the Lehigh Gorge,” Pudliner said.

The 6-mile long Hazleton trail extends from Route 93 in Hazleton past the Dreck Creek Reservoir in Hazle Twp. and ends near the village of Hazlebrook, Tom Hall, a board member of the nonprofit civic partnership, said.

The nonprofit Civic Partnership hoped to connect to the Eckley Miners Village in Foster Twp., and the Lehigh River at Rockport, but encountered issues regarding endangered flying squirrels and rights of way.

Weatherly’s trail, which is still in the first phase of development to the convergence of the Hazle and Quakake creeks, will eventually connect to the Lehigh Gorge State Park.

Weatherly has been fortunate in being able to secure funding for its trail, Pudliner said, and will be working with the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources to acquire more funding. The borough already has $750,000 available for phase two, he said.

The feasibility study for the Hazleton-Weatherly trail connection is the first step in the project, which is still in its infancy, and will open the door to funding to make the connector trail a reality, Pudliner said.

Nicole Keegan, landscape architect for Barry Isett, said she and Holly Walker, another landscape architect, will be working on the feasibility study to determine where a connector trail could be sited.

Public participation will be an important part of the process as they move forward, she said.

“That’s why it’s great to see so many people here,” Keegan said. “Projects like this really thrive when the community is involved, because we want to get everybody’s ideas, whether they’re good or bad and come to a consensus.”

She opened the floor to those attending to get comments and take questions, and there were more questions than comments, like how they propose to deal with crossing rail lines.

Norfolk Southern does have a policy against at-grade crossings, Keegan said. Cal Herring with the Civic Partnership said that they do have options, including bypassing Norfolk Southern properties and a possible at-grade crossing with Reading and Northern.

Looking at all the options and possible paths and obstacles is what the feasibility study is all about, Keegan said. She hopes to outline options at later meetings.

“This is just the kickoff meeting,” she said. “We are going to have two additional public meetings when we’ll come up with trail alignments and show you different options.”

Some of those attending had questions regarding the Weatherly portion of the trail, and not the connector, and others wanted to know more details about the path of the connector, which hasn’t been determined.

“There are so many different ways this could be good for the area, for the nature lovers, for the hikers, the bikers, for the economy,” said Frank Skokoski, a Hazleton area attorney and avid hiker.

Keegan and Hall expect the next public meeting to be held sometime this fall, but pointed out it’s the start of a long process.

However, they did estimate the connector trail will be about eight miles long, even though it’s only a couple miles as the crow flies between the Hazleton trail and Weatherly.