The city’s Greenbelt project might hit another wall as the Carrollton Board of Education considers how a possible road project would affect the school campus and its activities.

The board decided Thursday to table approving the easement for the Greenbelt project to cross onto school system property until it has more information about the city’s plans to add turn lanes to ease traffic congestion on Ben Scott Boulevard.

“At this point we’ve not seen any plans for widening Ben Scott,” Superintendent Tom Wilson said. “What I recommend is that we table our approval of the easement for the Greenbelt project until we can be assured that widening Ben Scott, whatever the city is going to do or if they are going to do it, does not impact our ability to add a wing onto the school and preserves the cross country course.”

The plans for the Greenbelt project, a walking and cycling trail that would eventually circle the city, call for it to follow Buffalo Creek from Hay’s Mill Road to Ben Scott Boulevard and then follow the road from the middle school to in front of the junior high school. The trail, a 12-foot-wide concrete path, was to be set back from the road. The current plans already required some adjustments to the cross country course to accommodate the path, since Georgia High School Association rules don’t allow the courses to cross concrete.

Carrollton annually hosts the GHSA state cross country meet.

Board member Kelly Glanton, who has been working with the city on the project, said her understanding was the project could require widening the street between 10 and 20 feet. The other side of the street has utility poles, which would make cutting into the property there possibly more difficult and expensive. Without knowing specifically if or how much of Ben Scott Boulevard would be widened, the board members worried that granting the easement could mean that some school system plans could be affected.

“We’ve got some momentum going about this solution,” board Chairman Dr. Michael Rothschild said. “I think we ought to sort of make sure we could use this momentum moving forward.”

Without knowing exactly how much land will be lost to the road, it’s impossible to know how all these things will fit together, Wilson said.

“Let’s just put it on hold and sit down with [city officials] and have them show us where everything is going,” Wilson said.

The board members left the easement on the agenda for its Nov. 10 meeting, hoping to have more information then.

Also Thursday, board members unanimously approved amending the school calendar to add two school days to make up for the two days the system had to close after flooding swept through the county in September. The elementary school had to close one additional day when the school was having electrical problems.

“It’s my understanding that you can miss up to four days without making them up,” Wilson said. “If we make these up, it gives us a little cushion, so we’ve got a couple more days.”

It also becomes a problem for students who are missing out on instruction time, Glanton said.

Students will stay in school an extra day before starting their Christmas break. Prekindergarten and kindergarten students will attend on Dec. 17 and start their break on Dec. 18. Students in grades 1-12 will go to school on Dec. 18 and start Christmas break on Dec. 21. The second make-up day will be the April 30 holiday scheduled for the second semester. All students will attend school that day.

The board is also moving forward with plans to sell bonds to possibly fund an addition to the middle school. The bonds would have to be sold through Carrollton’s Payroll Development Authority.

“We have to be able to sell those bonds by Dec. 31,” Wilson said. “If we’re approved, which I think we’re going to find out tomorrow, then we need to sell the bonds and if we can’t sell them by Dec. 31, we’re out of the game so to speak.”