This is my report on the:
CENTRAL OHIO GREENWAY & TRAIL FORUM
Thursday, November 3rd, 2005
North Bank Park on the Scioto Mile
Downtown Columbus
311 West Long Street
Columbus, OH 43215
Please do not take my report as anything "official" from the organizers of this forum. This is just a compilation of my notes and an occasional opinion on my part. I hope you find these useful.
Agenda
8: 30 – 9:00 AM Registration and Refreshments
9:15 AM Welcome
· Brad Westall- Columbus Recreation & Parks Department
· Executive Director Wayne A. Roberts- Columbus Recreation & Parks Department
· Columbus City Council President Matthew D. Habash
· Director John O’Meara- Columbus & Franklin County Metropolitan Park District
9:35 AM Holmes County Trail
Joan Simcak- Rails to Trails Conservancy
9:50 AM Madison County Trail: the last 1,800 feet.
Bill Reisenweaver- Ohio to Erie Trail
10:05 AM Parade of Projects
Facilitated by Steve Studenmund- Columbus & Franklin County Metropolitan Park
District
Introductions: who you represent, what mission is, projects underway/
planned/completed: successes and challenges. 5 minutes each.
11:45 AM Working Lunch: discuss challenges and strategize solutions.
12:30 PM Report back to the group with one-two key points.
1:00 PM “How to build community support for greenways and trails”
Director Jody Stowers –Westerville Department of Parks & Recreation.
1:15 PM Greenways & Trails Fundraising Session
Moderated by Rhonda Border-Boose- Ohio Rails to Trails Conservancy
Mary Fitch- ODNR Clean Ohio and Recreational Trail Fund Summary
Bill Demora – OLCV Clean Ohio Reauthorization
Bernice Cage – MORPC “SAFETEA-LU”
2:00 PM Kokosing Water Trail
Doug Mclarnan– Knox County Park District
2:15 PM Raccoon Creek Greenway
Don Wiper - Licking County Land Trust
2: 30 PM Rollout of COG, the Central Ohio Greenways’ United Identity.
Frank Riordan, Kolar Design & Design Team Members: Erin Miller, MORPC and
Brad Westall, Columbus Recreation & Parks
3:00 PM Next Steps…February 9th @ Cedar Ridge Lodge, Battelle Darby Metro Park
(determine topic)
3:30 PM Adjourn
FIRST, THE BIG NEWS…
At a break, after my presentation as a part of the “Parade of Projects,” Brad Westall, who is the trail designer for the City of Columbus, came up to me and wants to get together with us in Fairfield County. He called us a “sleeping giant” for trail development. We will need to decide how to best facilitate this vital meeting. Do we do this as Fairfield Heritage Trail Association? Do we do a larger meeting of people from our area as there were several representatives from Canal Winchester, including their mayor, at the meeting?
I think we should look at the area around I-70 and south, including Reynoldsburg, Groveport, Canal Winchester, Pickerington and Lancaster.
It’s unfortunate that Steve Carr from the City of Pickerington who while registered was unable to attend the Forum and be a part of my discussion with Brad.
Back to the meeting:
At the introduction, the purpose of the meeting was described as connections and linkages.
Holmes County Trail
Joan Simcak and others described the issues in building this trail. The usual suspects were mentioned: funding, getting politicians on board, and dealing with opposition. Eleven miles of the trail will go through wetlands. Currently 10 miles are built with 19 more to go.
Madison County Trail
Bill Reisenweaver from the Ohio to Erie Trail gave a very informative description of the round about ways he used to acquire the land needed to route this trail near London. The key is that the success of the trail movement is grass roots. It took 3 ½ years to acquire the needed land and this was only done because the local involvement in the project. He was very patient and flexible and used several ways to make things come about. Eventually, as a local resident he convinced the landowners to allow the trail to acquire the needed land. He remarked that trails are undermarketed projects and are accessible recreational activity in the community.
Parade of Project – notes
Knox County
· They purchased land to Centerburg to connect to the Kokosing Gap trial and are working to acquire a route from Mount Vernon to Frederickstown.
· They now have a Knox County Water Trail (more later)
Licking County
· They are using land trusts and public/private partnerships
· They are deciding where to put more trails in
· They work with Denison University
Madison County
· They have a Friends of Madison County trail
Franklin County
City of Dublin
o They have 60 miles of dedicated bike paths
o They did a parks and recreation study
o During planning they faced landowner fears
Washington Township
o Heritage Trail – Hilliard toward Plain City and into Columbus
o Mentioned the problem dealing with railroads in acquiring right-of-way
Upper Arlington
o Landlocked, but would like to link up between Columbus, Grandview and Dublin
Grandview Heights
o Strongly supports bicycling, including bike races
o Looking at internal bikeways
o At crossroads of trails
o Sees problem of how to get to trails
Grove City
o Doing a Parks and Recreation master plan
o Working in neighborhoods
o Addressing developer issues – let them know where trails need to be and they will put them in
o Economic impact
Gahanna
o Doing a master plan
o Major corridors – Big Walnut and Rocky Fork
o Want to connect to New Albany and Whitehall
o Working with Jefferson Township
o Connect residents to parks
o Challenges – time and resources
Friends of Alum Creek
o Working with cities on Alum Creek watershed
Whitehall
o Big Walnut Creek owned by city and would do trail to Gahanna
Franklin Soil and Water Conservancy District
o Have EPA grant to buy buffers in Hellbranch area
OSU
o Bikeway study, including Olentangy bike trail will be on architects office web page
o Funding biggest challenge
City of Columbus
o Have a planner
o Too many projects
o Land acquisition and urban system
o Olentangy Trail nearly done
o How do you keep system under control
o Need to connect to suburban community
Metroparks
o Olentangy, Darby, Heritage
o Alum Creek – Three Creeks Parks design to Livingston Avenue. Link to Sharon Woods. Blacklick Creek done – eight miles head to Pickerington Ponds has two pieces left
o Challenges – funding, time, landowners
MORPC
o Combined effort to include waterways with preservation first and trails second, building access
Rails to Trails Conservancy
o Field office is becoming regional and will include Indiana, Michigan, Kentucky and Illinois in addition to Ohio
o Problem – funding
Ohio to Erie Trail
o Started in 1991
o 14 years later, closing gaps in trail.
o Over half paved, right of way ¾ purchased
o Railroads extremely difficult to deal with
o Next battle – trails on active rail lines
o Minnesota is the leader in trails
o Finish by 2010 and then will be out of business
Ohio Parks and Recreation
o Making many different kinds of connections
ODOT
o Money since 1984
o Some there think too much money and attention into trails
o Funds outside metro areas, e.g. London, Millersburg, Urbana
o 30 new projects
o Can match ODNR funds
ODNR
o Funding Sources: Natureworks, Capital Improvement Budget, Clean Ohio Fund
o Capital Improvement budget earmarks – work with state reps and senators (an untapped resource) e.g., Triangle Trail
o Clean Ohio Trails - $18M, 130 miles new trail
o Challenges – reauthorization of Clean Ohio Program, 4th round of funding another $6M
Ohio League of Conservation Voters
o Received Gund Foundation grant for focus groups
So, what did I say about Fairfield County?
o Successfully working with Lancaster politicians and Fairfield Medical Center and Amanda Council and support from Amanda football coach
o Read the mission from our Web site
o Thanked ODNR and MORPC for their support in Lancaster and Diley Road trail
o Discussed support from the Vandervoorts and Terre’s role as City Attorney doing trail
o Mentioned challenges of funding and reluctant landowners
o Mentioned has maps and handouts available
Report out from lunch session on challenges
Connecting to neighborhoods – need a proactive commuter bicycle program. Look to other city models like Portland and Minneapolis
How get public to buy into trails – Once you have trails, you can’t get enough of them as trails are like potato chips.
o In Grove City used focus groups and community said wanted more trails which provided data to use.
o Use the power of committed group of community people with one person who is articulate as leader in group.
o Have an education process with personal benefits for people.
o Use pressure from outside, linking to outside trails.
o Look for people in government who exert a leadership role.
Local Participation – change culture in community. Instituting volunteerism. Importance of making trails and greenways as not perceived to be as important as other things. In survey, 80% said it was important for park district to build trails.
Getting Across Thoroughfares – Include brick pavers, painting lines on streets, signage
Funding – enhanced communication with state agencies
Community Buy-In – poor construction leads to less support. Use ODOT design for bikeways:
Use speakers who are converts – why they hated trails and why they changed
How to Build Community Support for Greenways and Trails – Mike Hooper, Westerville
Greenways and Trails Fundraising Session
Mary Fitch, ODNR - provided a handout
Bill Demora – OCLV
Bernice Cage – MORPC
Kokosing Water Trail
RACCOON CREEK GREENWAY
ROLLOUT OF COG, THE CENTRAL OHIO GREENWAYS’ UNITED IDENTITY – Kolar Design
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