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Trumbull commissioners support Warren effort to build trailhead along Western Reserve Greenway
By Ed Runyan
WARREN
Trumbull County commissioners are expected to approve a letter of support for Warren’s effort to obtain grants from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources to pay costs associated with creating a Western Reserve Greenway trailhead hike and bike trail at North River Road.
Paul Makosky, city director of engineering, planning and building, said the best location for the trailhead would be on 10 acres owned by the Mahoning Valley Economic Development Corp. on the north side of North River Road next to the greenway.
MVEDC is willing to donate the land to the city, but the city will need to spend most of its existing federal grant to pay for mitigation of wetlands.
If Warren can acquire permission to build the trailhead there and acquire funding, the site would provide parking and other possible amenities such as picnic tables, a water fountain, pavilion and bike racks, Makosky said.
The commissioners also are expected to approve the release of the $100,000 bond taken out by Halcon Resources of Houston as part of the Road Use and Maintenance Agreement the company signed with the county when it was preparing to drill several horizontal oil and gas wells in Trumbull County in 2013.
Jack Simon, RUMA coordinator for Trumbull County, said the company complied with the terms of its RUMA, paving the roads surrounding the five areas where it was planning to drill wells.
The company did not drill wells in two of the locations — near the Mahoning County line in Lordstown and one in Warren Township — but paved the roads nearby anyway, Simon said.
The company has producing wells in Lordstown, Vienna and Hartford, where it also paved nearby roadways, Simon said.
The RUMA remains in effect, but because Halcon fulfilled its maintenance requirements, there is no longer a need for Halcon to continue paying for the bond, he said.
BP America also drilled three horizonal wells in the county, and they also are still producing, though BP sold two of them to Halcon and the third one to another company, Simon said.