WILMINGTON — Work on the long-closed Sugar Grove Cemetery bridge and on another project appears to be a step closer to getting underway.
Safety/Service Director Brian Shidaker discussed resolutions involving the projects during his report at Thursday night’s Wilmington City Council meeting.
Shidaker discussed a resolution that would authorize him to execute an amended Local Public Agency (LPA) project agreement with the Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) for the bridge project.
Shidaker told Council they had already gone through the application process, adding there’s “a lot of hoops to jump through” when dealing with federal funds — although Shidaker noted this was actually good news.
“The state and the federal government are requiring us to sign an amended agreement because the original was approved for $233,035 in federal funds. We were able to squeeze a little bit more money out of them. So now it’s $259,331,” He said.
To get authorization, ODOT required Shidaker to sign another agreement.
Shidaker said the historical bridge has been closed “way too long.”
“I wish it was already repaired, but anytime you’re dealing with grant dollars it takes a lot of time. But what we’re going to end up with is a really, really nice bridge with maintained historical value as well,” he said.
He went on to talk about a resolution involving the extension project for Luther Warren Peace Path from Nelson Avenue to Ogden Road. For this project, he told Council they would be going for four separate grants.
He advised that so far they’ve received $950,000 in total from House Bill 529.
“We didn’t have to apply for any of that,” he said. “That was already in the state budget … we basically just had to accept that.”
The resolution would authorize him to into the grant agreements with the Ohio Public Works Commission (OPWC) Clean Ohio Fund and Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) money. The sum total of both grants is $1,591,601.
The trail extension resolution was passed during the City Service Committee report, where they also held the first reading of the cemetery bridge project resolution. The next two readings are scheduled for the Aug. 15 council meeting.
Also during council:
• Wilmington Mayor John Stanforth honored retiring Wilmington Fire Department Lt. Marvin Corbin for his 25 years of service.
• Stanforth recognized Dr. Kurtis Summerville for his 20 years with the Bible Missionary Baptist Church on Grant Street.