The Kosciusko County Parks and Recreation Board met Thursday, July 17. From left are board members Aggie Sweeney, Troy Turley, Rob Bishop and Matt Metzger. InkFreeNews photo by Elizabeth Hershberger.

By Elizabeth Hershberger
InkFreeNews

WARSAW — The Kosciusko County Parks and Recreation Board plans to submit letters of intent to the Community Amenities Program for the Syracuse-Wawasee Trail and the Chinworth Bridge projects.

“The LOI is the official tool in which the CAP committee … can approve the project and open it to application,” explained Kosciusko County Community Coordinator Amy Roe. The board will need to submit a letter of support from the county for each LOI to move the process forward.

The board plans to submit the Syracuse-Wawasee Trails LOI to support the project and ensure its chances to receive funds.

“I want to mimic the pre-grant application (LOI) that’s already been submitted for the Syracuse-Wawasee South Trail. The reason why I want to do that is that portion of the trail is outside the corporate limits of the town of Syracuse,” said Board President Robert Bishop.

In case the LOI submitted by Executive Director of Wawasee-Syracuse Trails Tracey Ford cannot move forward for legal reasons, the request by the board should cover the project.

The Chinworth Bridge project LOI will focus on restoration of the Chinworth Bridge itself, although board member Aggie Sweeney floated the idea of collaborating with the Kosciusko County Historical Society in order to “do more in the Chinworth area.” The historical society owns most of the land surrounding the bridge while the county owns the actual bridge. An expanded project would require approval from and cooperation with the historical society.

Bishop will prepare the LOIs and present them at the commissioner’s meeting for the board.

Trail Signs

Trail signs were a topic of discussion for the board again, with board member Matt Metzger pushing for coordination between Winona Lake, Warsaw and Kosciusko County for sign continuity along the trails.

“An overarching sort of system for the trails would be very good, including an overarching set of rules for the trails so that everybody has an understanding of what’s allowed on the trails and what’s not allowed on the trails,” said Bishop.

The board discussed the pros and cons of mile markers along the trails.

John Nelson of VS Engineering explained some of the options for signage he sent to the board. The board will review the options and come to a consensus by the August meeting.

In other business, the board:

• Heard and approved the second pay application presented by Niblock from Nelson of $203,733.32. The board will bring the payment to the commissioners will give final approval of the payment.
• Received the update that construction on the Chinworth Trail should be finished in another month.
• Agreed to schedule the ribbon cutting for the trail at the August board meeting.
• Heard resident concerns about drop-offs at the edge of the surface on their properties. Nelson assured citizens that whatever has been disturbed will be blended and become a mobile slope for property owners.

The next regular meeting of the Parks and Recreation Board will be 1 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 21, at the old courtroom in the county courthouse.