Officials approve funding for path

Land acquisition for Phase 3 will be relatively easy, a county official said.
By ED RUNYAN
WARREN -- Trumbull County commissioners approved $34,500 in match money Thursday for a grant to fund part of Phase 3 of the Greenway bicycle trail.
Phase 3 would run for about 21/2 miles between Champion Avenue in Champion and North River Road in Warren.
The county planning commission was hoping to also ask commissioners for match money for Phase 4 of the Greenway, about 2 miles between Warren and the intersection of state Route 46 and Robbins Avenue in Niles. Negotiations for that phase, however, will take too long to meet a Feb. 1 deadline.
Alan Knapp, planning commission director, said trying to secure the right of way for Phase 4 didn't fall together as quickly as hoped.
Support from all
All three commissioners have expressed support for the Phase 3 money, and Commissioner Dan Polivka asked Knapp last week to pursue the project.
"We didn't want to stop the progress of this," Polivka said. "It's a great project, and it's been somewhat stalled because of lack of funding," Commissioner Paul Heltzel said. "Based on early estimates, we will have some funding for more discretionary matters like that."
Commissioners approved three actions today in connection with the bike trail: agreeing to the match money, dedicating $103,500 in Clean Ohio grant money and providing easements or long-term leases to the Trumbull County Metroparks Board on county-owned land that will be part of the trail.
The actions will allow the Metroparks board to submit its grant request to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources by the Feb. 1 deadline. Julie Green, of the Trumbull County Planning Commission, said the county will learn Nov. 1 whether it will receive the grant.
If the grant is approved, engineering for Phase 3 would begin right away and take a year. Construction would only take a couple of months, she said.
Paying bills
The county must dedicate the $103,500 so that it will be available to pay invoices for work on the trail. The state will reimburse later, Knapp said. The planning commission is handling the funding request on behalf of the Metroparks board, which is overseeing the trail.
Knapp said acquiring the right of way for Phase 3 will be relatively easy because the land is owned by either the county or the Mahoning Valley Economic Development Corporation, which has agreed to lease land under the state Route 5 outerbelt and part of the railroad bed it owns near the Kmart warehouse distribution center off of North Park Avenue Extension.
Phase 3 will cost $690,000; Phase 4, $850,000. The county will eventually be asked to provide a $45,000 match for that phase.
Knapp said Phase 4 will eventually run from Burton Street Southeast at the Warren border south to the intersection of state Route 46 and Robbins Avenue in Niles, probably following railroad beds. He said that phase will probably be the last one completed, around 2010.
Warren's portion
Warren city is studying the best route and planning to build its portion of the trail with mostly federal money. Knapp said that phase should be complete around 2007 or 2008. Niles plans to complete the section from Robbins Avenue south to the Trumbull County line by early next year, Knapp said.
The first phases of the Greenway are already being used. With the exception of a 6-mile gap between Orwell and Rock Creek, the Greenway is continuously paved from Champion Street to West 52nd Street in Ashtabula. Other sections have been paved in Mahoning and Columbiana counties, and plans call for it to extend from Lake Erie to the Ohio River.
runyan@vindy.com