It looks after years of waiting that Tyrone's Dogwood Trail will soon be paved.

The paving of the road was the final piece of the puzzle that will apparently allow Joel Cowan Jr. to build his 169-home Lake Windsong subdivision in the northern part of the city.

The town council last week deferred on voting on the rezoning that will allow Cowan to start building until next Thursday's meeting, but as councilman Paul Letourneau said, “We've got a deal as far as I'm concerned.”

A large crowd showed up last Thursday to watch the debate over the subdivision. While most of the residents praised Cowan for his design of the project, they all voiced concern about the traffic problems that could occur.

Cowan pledged to support speed control devices on Magnolia Drive to try and control the speed through Magnolia Farms from residents leaving his proposed subdivision, but residents of Crestwood Road complained that the traffic would then be funneled through their neighborhood.

The only solution would be to pave Dogwood, said the residents, to provide another entrance and exit to the subdivision.

Cowan had originally planned to start the paving of the road no later than phase three of his subdivision and explained the road would cost $300,000.

“It's not something I think a lot of bankers would want to get involved in,” he said.

Councilman Ronnie Cannon said he would have to have a better commitment from Cowan.

“We're trying to protect the quality of life here,” he said.

The council and Cowan finally agreed that Cowan would start grading and gravelling the road when he starts phase two of his subdivision.

Town manager Barry Amos said he would work on developing a special road tax district that would give Cowan credits toward paving of the road when more people moved onto the road. Amos emphasized that people already living in the area would not be affected.

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