Survey confirms gardens must uproot for bike trail

The hike/bike trail extension that will connect the city’s northern portion to Oak Park can move forward with recently approved state grant funding, but the project will come at a cost to a few dozen gardeners in Wyoming.

The community gardens, which comprise 38 plots on about an acre of land along the Mill Creek and North Park Avenue, would have to be filled in to grade the land for the project. They are located at the bottom of a 20-foot hill that’s too steep for the trail that must meet ADA and flood plain standards.

It’s the only viable location for the trail extension, City Manager Lynn Tetley said.

City Council members and Wyoming officials will meet as a committee of the whole June 27 to discuss the project, and reaffirm council’s support of the trail extension. It’s a project that was planned and approved a decade ago.

In 2009, the trail portion that extends from North Park Avenue at North Avenue, along the Mill Creek to the Wyoming Recreation Center, was dedicated.

The $303,750 grant from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources Clean Ohio Trails Fund will cover about 75 percent of the project. Wyoming will pay the remainder.

To prepare for the trail extension, the city in 2008 bought a house at 1062 Oak Ave. because it was in the way. Renters will vacate the property by June 30 and the house will be demolished in the next few months to clear the land for the trail.

Engineers with JMA Consultants Inc. have surveyed the site, and while the report is still developing, Tetley said they have determined the garden site would have to be filled in create a required 5 percent grade.

“We had hoped to avoid it, but we can’t,” Tetley said.

The project will move forward unless City Council stops it, but if the funds are returned, penalties will be assessed, the city manager said. In addition to a financial penalty, the city would be prohibited from applying for ODNR grant funds for five years.

“We get a lot of funding from them,” Tetley said, citing the city’s tennis and pickleball courts, among others. “It’s a big deal to non-perform.”

The Wyoming trail is part of the West Fork Mill Creek Greenway Trail, which is included in the Hamilton County Regional Trail Network. The regional network ultimately will total 175 miles of connected trails.

The Monday, June 27, meeting begins at 6 p.m. at the Municipal Building, 800 Oak Ave.