Southold Town officials authorized Supervisor Scott Russell on Tuesday to enter into an agreement with the Village of Greenport and accept grant funding to move forward and complete a trail project in Greenport West connecting the Peconic Bay and Long Island Sound.

Aptly dubbed the Bay to Sound Trail Project, the concept is to link the various preserved parcels in the area — including Pipes Cove Park, Moore's Woods, Inlet Pond County Park, and Arshamomaque Preserve — to allow bikers, walkers, and outdoorsmen and women to enjoy the preserved land.

A $65,000 grant — originally won during the tenure of Tom Wickham as supervisor — expires at the end of January, leaving the town to spend dollars on materials and services for the project in the next few months before the door closes on the grant's last extension. The town has budgeted the money for the current fiscal year, and will receive reimbursement from the state following completion.

"There have been a lot of players involved, so it's been hard to get everyone on board," said Russell on Wednesday. "Players change, priorities change. But hopefully we'll be done by the fall."

Currently, trails have already been formed in Arshamomaque, Inlet Pond, and Moore's Woods, according to John Sepenoski, a geographic information system coordinator with the town who's also an active user of the trails.

Tuesday morning, the town discussed replacing the foot bridge in Pipes Cove Park with the grant funding, considering it comes in close to or under $50,000, Sepenoski said. Town Engineer Jamie Richter is currently drawing up more thorough plans for the bridge.

"It's structurally sound at this point, but within the next few years it's going to need to be replaced anyways," Sepenoski told the Town Board. "We might as well use these funds."

In addition to state grant dollars, Suffolk County has agreed to fund a survey to study the environmentally sensitive areas around the trails at a cost of $35,000. The town — in conjunction with partners such as Greenport Village and Group for the East End, to name a couple — must match the funding in man-hours related to the restoration of the area, and has currently built up about $16,000 in labor.