AREA ROADS After bids, Austintown rethinks paving projects

Trustees OK'd allowing the new middle school to use a Raccoon Road park.
By JEANNE STARMACK
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
AUSTINTOWN -- Township officials need to rethink how many miles of roads they'll resurface this year after opening bids for the project.
The township received two bids Monday, one from Shelly and Sands of Girard for $257,000 and one from Shelly Co. of Twinsburg for $290,600.
Trustees did not award a contract, saying they need time to review the bids.
But township administrator Michael Dockry said the township budgeted only $200,000 for resurfacing.
Dockry said after the meeting that 3.6 miles are set right now for resurfacing, but that may be reduced to 3 or 2.75 miles.
Dockry said that in some cases only 50 feet of a road may get resurfaced. "People ask, 'Why don't you do the whole [road]', but you can't afford to," he said.
Heron's Landing
Another project update came on Heron's Landing, a condominium development off New Road, where construction disturbed wetlands.
Jim Mahoney of Western Reserve Land Consultants, an agent for developer Mill Creek Companies, told trustees the Army Corps of Engineers, which oversees wetland regulations, has given permission for the developer to fix the problem. He expects the work will start this week if weather permits.
Trustee Lisa Oles, who has visited the site, said the developer dug a trench in the wetlands. Zoning Inspector Mike Kurilla said the wetlands will have to be restored to their original condition.
Use of park
Trustees also approved an agreement with the Austintown school district to allow pupils of the new middle school on Raccoon Road to use 911 Memorial Park across the road. The school needed more green space and ball fields, Oles said.
Trustees voted to approve the agreement with an amendment that says the township will maintain the same liability insurance it has now for the park, but the school district will absorb the cost of additional insurance if it's needed because of increased activities there.
Oles said the school district will use the part of the park east of Axe Factory Run Creek. It will maintain and improve the ball fields. The school board also must approve the agreement at its next meeting.
Speeding problem
In other business, the trustees agreed to rethink the issue of speeding in the Brookwood Estates subdivision off Raccoon Road.
Residents protested the trustees' June 2 decision to deny a four-way stop at North Warwick and Plumbrook drives.
Residents are worried speeders will hit children in the neighborhood. Trustees did vote in May to allow a four-way stop elsewhere in the township on Penny Lane, Birch Trace Drive and Oak Trace Street. They went outside state guidelines to do so but used a daily traffic count as a benchmark. Even though a study showed the average speed was higher on North Warwick than on Penny, North Warwick only has about one-third the amount of cars traveling it each day.
Oles said the trustees should work to find a solution to the speeding problem.