LOUDONVILLE — The Mohican Area Growth Foundation wants to connect the Loudonville Mohican Bike Path to Mohican State Park.
Right now, the path ends on the west side of State Route 3, meaning if trail users want to continue to Mohican State Park, they must cross State Route 3.
Councilmember Matt Armstrong said the MAGF is working through options to secure funding to expand the bike path at Loudonville’s Village Council meeting Sept. 2.
Armstrong is vice president of MAGF.
He said the first option is to partner with the American Electric Power Foundation to create a shared utility and multi-use trail corridor.
AEP is building new transmission lines on the east side of State Route 3. Officials believe the transmission line corridor right-of-way would make adequate space to accompany a bike trail.
Armstrong said this option is promising because AEP will have to clear the area of trees to create a path for the power lines, which means most of MAGF’s work will involve paving.
In a document attached to the meeting agenda, MAGF said this trail option would span roughly three-quarters of a mile and cost an estimated $765,000.
But Amrstrong said the most promising option would be to work with Mohican State Park to designate the path a special project.
The designation allows Mohican State Park to secure additional funding so the park does not have to dip into its general fund.
Armstrong said the park’s cable bridge is an example of a special project. It was funded through the Ohio Department of Natural Resources.
MAGF previously worked with Mohican State Park’s manager to get right-of-way on the park land and applied for ODNR’s Clean Ohio Trails Fund grant.
The grant is designed for local governments and park districts to apply, not for state-owned land, so the grant committee declined to fund the project.
Armstrong said MAGF wants to secure one of those projects in hopes that it will spur traction to complete an Ashland County segment of the Mohican Valley Trail.
That trail would be roughly three miles long and cost an estimated $11.3 million to construct, according to Grow Mohican’s website.
The Ashland segment would connect to the existing Loudonville Bike Path, and the proposed connecting trail to Mohican State Park.
Other business
Village Administrator Garrett DeWitt reported that council did not receive a grant from T-Mobile for Union Street sidewalk improvements.
DeWitt said the village could reapply by Sept. 30, but some residents who live on North Union Street shared their opposition to the project.
Councilmember Brandon Biddinger said the village should reapply because the improvements would make the sidewalks safer.
“There’s cars driving 40, 50 miles an hour through that road and [people have] to walk on the shoulder,” Biddinger said.
“Yeah I think we do need to think about their concerns, but as we were working on the grant application, we had more letters of support than the grant application would allow,” Armstrong said.
Council members will vote on the grant application at their next meeting.
