Path sought to link Poland village, township

The proposed sidewalk would connect the high school, Dobbins Elementary and the library.

By DENISE DICK

VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER

POLAND — Trustees are trying again to secure a grant linking the township and village.

The township applied for a $250,000 Safe Routes to Schools grant from the Ohio Department of Transportation.

The grant would pay a portion of the cost for a sidewalk along state Route 170 from the village line to Dobbins Road. Both Dobbins Elementary and the high school sit near the corner of Dobbins and Route 170.

Total project cost is estimated at $400,000, but $250,000 was the maximum grant available through the program, said James Scharville, township administrator.

Trustee Robert Lidle said the township has about $90,000 set aside from the last time it pursued the project. Officials will look for others grants or contributions from groups or individuals to help pay the remainder.

“Poland has always been a community that’s very accommodating to walkers,” Lidle said, pointing to sidewalks through much of the village. “But as the town has expanded, people have lost some of that ability to walk to everywhere.”

How path would help

The proposed 1.2-mile path would enable people to walk to the Poland branch of the Public Library of Youngstown and Mahoning County, the high school and other places along the way, the trustee said.

“We have people who drive to the high school to walk around the track,” Lidle said. “They tell me that if they had a sidewalk, they would walk there.”

High school cross country runners would have safer practice runs along Route 170 with the sidewalk too, he said.

Dr. Robert Zorn, schools superintendent, said the school board also supports the proposal. “We have long advocated that,” he said. “It’s something that’s needed. It will be helpful to students and parents. It would provide a safe route to and from school and school activities, and it could be used by both bicyclists and pedestrians safely.”

Safe Routes to School is a federal highway administration program administered through ODOT.

“At its heart, the SRTS program empowers communities to make walking and bicycling to school a safe and routine activity once again,” the Safe Routes Web site says.

History

Last year, the township turned down a different grant to help fund the project, concerned that the earmarked funds wouldn’t cover the entire local match required.

Safe Route to Schools doesn’t require local matching funds, and Lidle said that if the grant comes in at a lower amount, the township could decide to do the project in stages.

It’s a project that’s been on the township’s wish list for several years.

“I have kids in school — one in elementary, one at the middle school and one in high school — and I hear from all of those parents that it’s a project they’d like to see done,” Lidle said.

Village council also backs the plan. Mayor Christine Yash and Joseph Mazur, council president, wrote a letter to the transportation agency, indicating their support.