AMHERST — Construction of a new trail system on portions of the former Hickory Ridge Golf Course, including a loop trail for recreation and a north-south trail that will provide a more direct connection for East Hadley Road residents to Pomeroy village center, is expected to get underway in the next month to six weeks.

The Zoning Board of Appeals voted 4-0 on March 28 in support of a special permit that allows the town to put eight new structures on the flood prone conservancy zoned land at 191 West Pomeroy Lane. All of these initial structures will be foot bridges and boardwalks to get people over wet areas, though there is also expected to eventually be a small pavilion installed along the path.

Assistant Town Manager Daviod Ziomek, who has been overseeing the planning for the 150-acre site the town acquired for $520,000 in 2022, said work on the trails should begin by mid-May.

“It will take much of the spring and good part of the summer to get it done,” Ziomek said.

The Zoning Board of Appeals’ approval was the final step in the municipal permitting process, following the Planning Board OK’ing site plans, the Design Review Board examining the plans and the Conservation Commission issuing an order of conditions.

“It looks like a great project,” said Zoning Board of Appeals Chairman Steve Judge. “I look forward to its completion, and using it.”

The structures going in are a maintenance vehicle access bridge that will also serve as a handicapped accessible foot bridge, three handicapped accessible foot bridges, two handicapped accessible boardwalks on helical bearing plates and one bog bridge.

Though no funding is available yet, there will in the future be a small shade structure pavilion, which Ziomek said people might use as a way to get out of the sun or to eat a sandwich.

All the structures will be able to stay put when the Fort River floods, as it often did when the site was a golf course.

They will be “solidly built to withstand some overtopping from time to time by floodwaters,” Ziomek said.

The trails will feature 6-foot wide crushed stone, not unlike the golf cart paths that existed previously, and will be fully accessible for people using wheelchairs. Ziomek said these will be similar to what exists at the Fort River Trail at the Conte Refuge in Hadley.

The project is being supported by a $280,000 Parklands Acquisitions and Renovations for Communities state grant and $120,000 from the town’s Community Preservation Act account and Community Development Block Grant money.

A 26-acre section of the property will be for a solar project that will provide 6.44 megawatts of electricity annually and which also includes 3,500-kilowatt battery system.

The project meets the goals of a master plan to connect some of the neighborhoods to the north, where apartment complexes like The Boulders are located, with the village center services and restaurants.

Even with the trails to be completed, Ziomek said more work is being planned in the future, including on the parking area for people who visit the site and the demolition of the existing clubhouse, possibly to make way for other uses, such as a South Amherst fire station, a community center or affordable housing.

Scott Merzbach can be reached at smerzbach@gazettenet.com.