Fairfield Heritage Trail Association

Meeting Minutes - August 14, 2002

The regular monthly meeting of the Fairfield Heritage Trail Association was held Wednesday, August 14, 2002, at the Olivedale Recreation Center, Lancaster, Ohio. Meetings are always on the second Wednesday of the month at 7:00 PM.

In attendance were Jim Barrett, Dave Bogear, Donald Claffey, Dave Darfus, Anna Ford, Claude Ford, Rick Holt, Dave Scheffler, Betty Shaw, Neil Shaw, Larry Smith, Jeff Vandervoort, Marilyn Walker, Phil Walker, Ira Weiss and Bob Williams and special guest Annemarie Kuhn from the RTC Ohio Field Office.

President Jeff Vandervoort opened the meeting at 7:05 PM.

Approval of Minutes

The minutes of the July 10, 2002 meeting were moved by Dave Scheffler, seconded by Bob Williams and approved.

Treasurer's Report

Dave Scheffler gave the report. There is $2,500 in the treasury. This includes $611 from Weldons Ice Cream. The sale of five memberships and six t-shirts can be attributed to the newsletter.

Newsletter

Rick contacted the Eagle Gazette to be placed on the Community Section and on Community Calendar.

Old Business

Amanda Section

Claude is in touch with Superintendent J. B. Dick. Coach Hinton is working with landowners. We want authorization from Midwest Fabricating re: the Amanda Grain Mill. We need support from Midwest Fabricating, Amanda Grain Mill, and Amanda Council. We may have to detour the trail when grain is brought in. Jim Barrett noted that Jennifer Johns does not have to give an OK as she gave us the deed. The old deed gives us rights. If necessary the patch could be on the other side of the fence. Claude will call J. B. Dick back. We can start path in Amanda and only need to apply for funding. Who will be the applicant for the Amanda section? We could do a temporary surface but would need money to go across the creek. We need to gain interest with volunteer help and improve the trail later with the grant. We will walk the trail on October 9th with a cook-out at the Ford's. Jim also contacted Randy Comisford at ODOT but has yet to receive a reply. We should have option to use U.S. 22 right-of-way as this may be needed for part of the trail. If we do a trail in Amanda, others will fall in line. Regarding funding, Jeff Vandervoort suggested we meet with Terre to avoid competing grants. We could use the clean Ohio Fund. Dave Bogear said there was a lot of money left on the table as they asked for acquisition monies. Someone needs to write the Amanda grant. It takes 18 months to complete a project. We can use Dave Fey's Bobcat. We need to have the trail surveyed first. Midwest Fabricating has a 60' easement and we get to use the 10' farthest away from the plant. Tom Tobin could do the surveying. Larry Smith's son works with Tom Tobin and could do the survey as well. We should prepare a grant and an Olivedale staff person or Brooks Davis from Fairfield County Regional Planning Commission could help write it. We should plan a work day after we walk the trail. We will meet at 5:30 p.m. on October 9th and walk the trail from 5:30 to 6:30 and eat after walking. People should bring a covered dish.

Lancaster City Trail

We met with the OU-L cross-country coach and everything is OK as long as they do not run on the trail, they only need to cross it. We are meeting with landowners and one may want to sell property to Kroger or the hospital. Both Kroger and the Fairfield Medical Center are OK with the trail. We will walk the city trail on September 18th and meet at 6:00 at Forest Rose School.

Capital Campaign Committee

The committee is currently on hold as grants are being pursued instead.

Presentations

Claude Ford will get back to Dave Scheffler with dates.

New Business

Covered Bridge

Bob Williams talked to TC Spires Trucking and Cazak Moving. We need a ballpark figure. Two trail groups have moved bridges: Ashtabula County/Great Western Reserve did it with volunteers and the Wabash Cannonball group. A number of people are talking about this on line. If the bridge is moved in one piece we need height, length and width.  The bridge is 16' tall, dollies add 5' for 21 total feet in height. It is 16' wide and 54.5' long. It was built in 1864. We should try to talk movers into using it as a tax write-off. It could be used at Lancaster High School for football or Thomas Ewing. We need to thank the bridge owners. Two other possible movers include Dungy Movers in Zanesville and Bill Schrier from Baltimore. Lancaster School Boosters could help fund this. We would hate to see the bridges be lost. We should give recognition to Jane Walters and move the bridge in a timely fashion. Volunteers are interested in saving the bridge. There is no firm deadline to move the bridge. We could use $25,000 in funds for the bridge and use it as part of a match for other bridge funds.

Ohio Rails to Trails Guidebook

 Annemarie Kuhn will send questions to Bob Williams. He will answer them and provide a map.

Bike Tours

Marilyn Walker noted that the Wright Historical Wride is scheduled for the 24th.

Evans Foundation

Jim Barrett said that deeds are available for downloads to see if some easements were granted. County Recorders should have deeds on line.

Everyone is encouraged to check the Website for next month's agenda. Items may be added by members by emailing Ira at iweiss@insight.rr.com.

Neil Shaw moved to adjourn, seconded by Rick Holt. The Meeting was adjourned at 8:30 p.m..

NOTE: The next meeting on October 9th will be in Amanda at Claude Ford's house, 123 W Main St. We will meet at 5:30 p.m. and walk the trail from 5:30 to 6:30 and eat after walking. People should bring a covered dish. Please RSVP to the Fords at 740/969-3010.