Combining nature and consumerism, a suburban multi-use recreation trail is taking shape that could tie together East Hempfield Township neighborhoods and Long's Park.

A proposed extension of the public pathway could carry shoppers or walkers through open space on the site of the Crossings at Conestoga Creek shopping center, if it is built.

The jumping off point for the project is the Lancaster County Solid Waste Management Authority's plan to build a 1-mile-long looped nature trail. The trail would run through woods, fields, wetlands and along the Little Conestoga Creek on former dump land the authority owns on both sides of Farmingdale Road.

"This is an unusable piece of ground so why not make it an asset for the community?" Jim Warner, authority executive director, said this morning.

Warner emphasized the trail would be built regardless of whether the route is extended through the controversial shopping center site.

Manheim Township is nearing a decision on a conditional-use application by shopping center developers.

The authority announced Friday it is arranging to buy, for $416,500, a late-1700s stone farmhouse and bank barn at 821 Farmingdale Road. It sits on three acres in the middle of the trail circuit.

The property, owned by octogenarians Robert and Barbara Barden, could become a nature center or other public use, Warner told his board of directors Friday.

The authority is working with the nonprofit Lancaster County Conservancy for help to plan, build and maintain the trail.

The path would probably be a semi-hard surface to handle a multitude of recreational uses, from baby carriages to bicycles.

The authority also is seeking permission from East Hempfield Township so the authority could build a trailhead and parking spaces on unused land the township owns along Good Drive at the Norfolk Southern railroad tracks.

"It sounds like a good idea but we're waiting for more details," said Robert Krimmel, East Hempfield's manager. The land, about four to five acres, was originally set aside as Noel Dorwart Park but the park never materialized.

In 2002, the authority purchased 80 acres on both sides of Farmingdale Road. The land was used as a landfill going back to 1955 and the authority sought to control its use and possible liability for waste buried there.

Last year, the authority offered to lease 12 acres of the property behind the Lancaster Post Office to Norfolk Southern for a relocation of its railroad switching yard, currently in the city.

Franklin & Marshall College and Lancaster General Hospital want to buy the railroad's 25-acre city property for expansion.

Warner said a deal seems to be getting close and that a "windfall" the authority would get from the switchyard deal could pay for the trail and Good Drive trailhead projects.

The authority also has offered to sell a two-acre tract to the county for $1 for a new morgue and forensics center. Commissioners have picked the site as their top choice.

Krimmel said the terms of a conditional-use application from the shopping center proposal calls for developer High Real Estate Group to build a pedestrian bridge over the Little Conestoga to tie into the waste authority's trail.

In addition, there are plans for a pedestrian recreation walkway to Harrisburg Pike, probably along a stream on the property that flows out of Long's Park.

Said Krimmel of the Good Drive to Long's Park proposal, "It is definitely going to be a partnership here with a lot of different partners."

Ralph Goodno, president of the Lancaster County Conservancy, would like to see the authority properties improved for wildlife habitat and invasive species removed.

He said the conservancy's involvement with the project would be part of the group's new commitment to offer its expertise to improve land management, stewardship and public recreation beyond what the conservancy owns.

Suburban and urban landscapes will be targeted, which makes the authority property an ideal starting point, Goodno said.

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