Public’s views on planning trails sought

Delaware County wants the public to weigh in as it plans for foot and bike trails throughout the fast-growing area.

The year-old Delaware County Trails Committee is hosting an open house from 4 to 6 p.m. Thursday at Willis Education Center, 74 W. William St., Delaware, to seek ideas about demand, location, funding and other issues.

The committee is made up of the Delaware County Board of Commissioners, county residents and representatives of the county’s economic-development, regional-planning, engineering and health departments. Preservation Parks, which has a levy on the Nov. 7 ballot, also will be involved in the planning and paving of trails.

Voters will decide a 10-year levy that would raise more than $6.5 million annually to build parks and improve existing ones in addition to expanding and adding trails. If approved, it would cost residents $29 per $100,000 of home valuation, $10 more per year than they pay now.

Residents have consistently called for improvements to the park’s trail system, including a link, through Highbanks Metro Park, into Franklin County.

The committee has been working on a plan to help local governments while mapping existing and future trails. Those maps and draft copies of the plan will be available for review and comment.

The county has hosted about 60 meetings since early last year, part of its economic-development strategic planning, said Jenna Jackson, the county’s economicdevelopment coordinator.

“I think in about 90 percent of them, the quality-of-life issues of trails came up,” Jackson said. “People want to be able to walk and ride their bikes in their community.”

Creating and connecting trails before land is developed is critical, officials say.

“I think that there is no perfect timing. But it’s better now than waiting,” Jackson said.