Continued opposition to a hike-and-bike trail connection in Mantua Township may mean no connection at all. In short, residents and elected officials aren’t on board.
At issue is the Portage Park District’s plan to connect Headwaters Trail ends at Mennonite and Diagonal roads. The ideal way to connect the trail would be along the former Erie Lackawanna Railroad bed that...
Read moreI live on Pioneer Trail but not on the section affected by the proposed Trail.
I can understand the residents not wanting this in their front yard. I don’t think I would want it cutting into my front yard either. However, I can also understand wanting to continue the Trail. I would love to be able to walk or ride my bike into Aurora or Garrettsville. Eventually the Aurora path will meet up with the Chagrin/Solon path.
I wonder if there is some compromise available, like buying property behind the houses on the North side of Pioneer Trail, where there are already fewer houses and more farmland. Maybe angling the path to go behind those houses and coming through somewhere closer to the corner of Pioneer Trail and Mantua Center Road, before continuing down the west side of Mantua Center Road to the new Mennonite Trailhead?
Another possibility; Does it have to be so wide that it infringes on front yards? Does it need to be 12-18 feet wide as I had read? Can it be a “bike-path width” like other cities with busier roads have? Maybe a 5-foot berm with a guard rail to protect walkers, riders, strollers and dogs?
1.) Is not a “trail” cutting across the front (frontage) section of anyone’s property is commonly known as a sidewalk? (Perhaps this is a good example of why city, county, etc., governments need to advise their respective boards and advisory panels/groups to mandate that any and all new housing construction include a sidewalk.)
2: “As far we know, in the state of Ohio, there are no other front yards ever being used for a hike-and-bike trail” : if one heads North on the ‘hike and bike’ trail (Google’s naming, not mine), on Brandywine Road, the trail crosses the “front yard” of what looks to be 2 residential properties just prior to the Brandywine Falls trailhead. I’ve ridden up that path numerous times, and one of the houses used to set out a covered trailer of a sort with cold water and other consumable along with a “pay” box (does that not qualify as “job creation”?), which was quite nice since the trailhead is like too many other trailheads: nice bathrooms but absolutely no water to fill a bottle (pardon the digression). I’d wager there are many trailheads that cut through properties, and in fact the one in Kent heading N/NE towards Ravenna runs behind and beside many houses. It is not uncommon at all.
Perhaps to avoid the anger, the PPD should simply speak to the proper authorities about those sections of road, declare the intent to have those roads used as a trail connector, and then have the speed limits dropped on all relevant sections to a Maximum 25 MPH. I for one would then like to see a Go-Fund-Me set up to build in proper speed tables and “road furniture” to ensure proper speed management so cyclists do not have to worry about speeding traffic. And widening the roads too at some point makes good sense.
To be “not against the trail” means one should be open to compromise. Turning the relevant roadways into low-speed, restricted roadways may be just that.