Township offers use of park to middle school

AUSTINTOWN -- The township and the school district are talking about letting pupils from the new middle school on Raccoon Road use the township park across the street for recreation.
Township Trustee Lisa Oles said last week that the township has offered to let the new school, which will be finished in September 2007 for sixth- through eighth-graders, use the park for softball fields or recess.
She said the township would maintain insurance on the park.
There are talks with the county engineer's office about installing a crosswalk with lights, she said, so children can safely cross Raccoon Road.
Oles said the school needs more room for recreation, and the township thought it was an ideal opportunity to make improvements to the three ballfields in the park. The school district will ask for grants, she said, possibly through the Mahoning County Green Team, to put new fencing around the ballfields.
"Within the next three months, we'll come up with some type of contract where they lease it for a dollar, or something," she said.
Oles said that the township is also working to get sidewalks on Raccoon Road from the library to Burkey Road, or possibly all the way down to New Road.
She said the township has to apply for the project with the county engineer.