Plain City Council: Rail Trail extension discussed

BREANNE PARCELS
Press Staff Writer
Published July 14, 2004 11:17 AM CDT

Plain City Village Council members discussed plans for extending a multi-use trail through the village with other interested parties during Monday's meeting.

Chris Johanson, a member of the village's Parks Master Plan Committee, introduced Len Fisher, president of the Heritage Rail Trail Coalition and Larry Peck, deputy director of Franklin County Metro Parks.

"At this point, the Heritage Rail Trail runs from downtown Hilliard to Cemetery Pike, a distance of about 6.1 miles," Fisher said. "That still leaves us with two miles to go to Plain City."

Johanson said he hopes council will help with efforts to link the trail to the village and other trails.

"If folks can be organized and we can get this completed, eventually we could hook up with the Ohio-to-Erie Trail and others west of here," he said.

Peck said he and other Metro Parks staff were open to suggestions about a potential barrier to the project in the form of a quarry located along the old rail bed.

"We've not been successful in that regard," Peck said. "We're open to anything at this point. We're not here to throw stones at the quarry because we haven't talked but their safety concerns are real and we understand that."

Councilman Wes Gibson volunteered to talk to the quarry owners about the project.

"The best solutions are local solutions," Peck said. "We're often perceived as a threat and we don't want to be. We're an independent political subdivision of Ohio as a park district and not tied in with Columbus or Franklin County."

Peck said his goal is to help the project with funding, planning and other resources Metro Parks can offer.

"We think there's a tremendous economic benefit, health benefits and other benefits," he said. "There's a lot of good things here and that's our agenda."

Breanne Parcels can be reached at (740) 852-1616, 1-800-282-3838 or by e-mail at news5@madison-press.com