Bedford clears first obstacle in bid for connector path from town to the Reservation

City Manager Mike Mallis told the council during their regular meeting on Tuesday, July 6, that the city has taken a “huge first step” in moving forward in creating a connector path to run from the Bedford Public Square to the Bedford Reservation.

Currently, to reach the Bedford Reservation, a person starting at the square would have to walk or ride about a half mile on city streets in order to reach a trail that enters the park.

With the new plan, Mallis said a bridge would be reinstalled near the falls at Viaduct Park to span Tinkers Creek. That bridge would allow a connector from the Egbert Trail in the reservation to cross over the river into Viaduct Park. Once there, a planned path on Willis Street would then connect Viaduct Park to downtown.

“So, in theory, people that are in town can take that path and … can go right into the Metroparks, (and) Metroparks bikers and hikers that are coming down Egbert have a direct path into town,” Mallis said.

Mallis said the city has discussed this connector idea for a few years now. He called the current plan “substantial,” and would cost over a million dollars to complete. Due to this, he said the city has been actively seeking outside sources of funding to help get it accomplished. He said the one of the organizations the city has been working with is the Northeast Ohio Areawide Coordinating Agency (NOACA).

Mallis said the process for obtaining funds from NOACA can be complicated since they require an extensive planning phase, and the organization really has to “buy into” the project before they release any funding.

Apparently NOACA liked the connector idea, since they recently awarded the city $80,000 toward the beginning preparation work for the trail. Mallis said these monies will fund the engineering and surveying work that will help start making the plans into a reality. He credited Jennifer Kuzma and the City’s Economic Development Department with doing the hard work to get this process going.

Mallis also announced some more positive funding news, and this was in regards to the planned Union Street resurfacing project. This is a project that is being partially funded by the county and the city, and Mallis said the city has been trying to get it done since 2014.

The county’s responsibility includes Union Street as it travels out of downtown from Broadway to Northfield Road. Since the city wanted the resurfacing so continue to where Union crosses Broadway again, that is the portion for which they are responsible. Mallis said adding to the cost for this city is the need to complete substantial sewer repairs in that area, as well. He said the cost for the sewer work and the portion of Union the city was responsible for was about $320,000.

“The good news is last week we applied for funding through Issue 2, which is state funding, for large capital projects and we were approved, Mallis said. “So we are going to get some funding for the city’s portion of Union Street … (and) what that does is it frees up some additional money for some roads.”

In fact, later in the meeting, council approved an ordinance that would amend the street repairs contract with Vandra Brothers Construction, to include Nordham Drive which had been on an alternate list of streets that needed work if funding could be found. Since funds from Issue 2 were used to cover costs on Union, the concrete repairs and asphalt resurfacing on Nordham will now be able to be funded. Ward 6 Representative Don Saunders said that one the residents in his ward was going to be particularly happy about this news. He said 99-and-a-half-year-old resident Tom Minardo, who lives on Nordham, has been to many hearings over the years about getting this roadwork completed, so this would be good news to him.

The council also approved legislation that would make it a first degree misdemeanor and a fine of up to $1,000 for an engineer to obstruct traffic by parking a train on the tracks in the city. On top of that, there would be also a civil fine of up to $1,000 for the train company for which the engineer works. He said they are sending the rail line a certified letter informing them of the legislation, but there would be a 30-day grace period before the law would go into action

Mallis said the city had hoped to have avoided legal activity to resolve this issue, but felt it had become necessary. He said they had been speaking with a number of representatives of Norfolk Southern all over the country to try to get some answers. But despite that kind of work, the trains have still kept stopping. He said two trains had even stopped on the tracks earlier the day of the meeting. Therefore, legislation was the next needed step in the process of getting the issue resolved.

“I just want to stress that we are doing everything we can to try to fix this,” he said.

In other news, the council:

– Swore in and welcomed Savannah Selden as a new Bedford Police officer. She becomes the first female officer ever on the force.

– Approved a contract with J.D. Striping to do the long striping work in the city, which is to begin soon.

– Approved a motion by the Planning Commission to accept a conditional use approval to Asia Love to use tenant space on Broadway Avenue to provide makeup and skincare services.

– Gave approval to the appointments of Ceteria Williams to the Planning Commission for a 4-year-term and of Bryon Hood to the Board of Zoning Appeals for a 3-year-term.

– Also approved the reappointment of Lynette Speights to the Board of Zoning and Appeals for a 3-year-term and of John Trzeciak to the Board of Zoning Appeals for a 3-year-term.