Pictured, from left, are Kosciusko County Parks and Recreation Board Vice-President Aggie Sweeney and Board Member Troy Turley. InkFreeNews photo by Liz Adkins.

By Liz Adkins
InkFreeNews

WARSAW — The Kosciusko County Parks and Recreation Board will soon celebrate the Chinworth Trail extension project with a ribbon-cutting in early October.

During a board meeting on Thursday, Sept. 18, Kosciusko County Community Coordinator Amy Roe said she is working with VS Engineering representatives for a press release to be created and a contact list to be established. The ribbon-cutting will take place at 3 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 9.

Board Member Troy Turley said he and Vice-President Aggie Sweeney went to the Chinworth trailhead on Sept. 12 to look at the work. He said while the extension looks fantastic, there are issues with debris at the trailhead.

“Where it says ‘Chinworth Bridge Trailhead,’ you can’t even see it because there’s so much shrubbery that’s built up there,” said Turley. “You literally can’t even see it, so there would be a lot of debris (to get rid of).”

Turley proposed a workday on Oct. 5 with the Friends of the Trails group for cleaning up the trailhead prior to the ribbon cutting.

In regard to the trail extension, John Nelson, project site manager with Triad Associates, presented a change order in the amount of $10,012.50 to decrease the contract amount with Niblock Excavating.

“We took some items from the original project away and replaced them with other, equal items that are a little cheaper,” said Nelson. “And there was an adjustment in quantity. The one thing that, to me, stands out is the collapsible bollards. Talking with (County Highway Superintendent) Steve Moriarty about eliminating those, at the time, he didn’t have an issue with it and I asked if we could pull it out, because we weren’t really sure if we wanted collapsible or permanent ones.”

Board President Rob Bishop said bollards at the extension would prevent golf carts or other motorized vehicles from using the trail.

“There are pros and cons to having bollards in a trail system,” said Bishop. “For cyclists, they can be a little bit of a safety issue. We’ve had friends who have not seen them and broken their collarbones when they hit them, coming around corners and stuff. On the other hand, we really don’t want side-by-sides, golf carts driving down them. I saw Syracuse had a post on Facebook where apparently they had an issue with golf carts on their trails.”

One resident who lives near the Chinworth extension said he saw two cars and two golf carts on the trail.

Nelson said he would like to go ahead and process both the change order and a pay application to Niblock Excavating, then follow this up with a second change order putting the bollards back into the project with a lesser quantity. The board approved this, with the documents set for presentation to the Kosciusko County Commissioners at their Sept. 23 meeting.

Leesburg Walking Path

The board also heard an update from Roe about Leesburg’s proposed walking path project. At the board’s August meeting, Roe and Leesburg Town Council Member Christina Archer told the board the trail’s purpose was for exercise and safety for students walking to Leesburg Elementary School.

Roe said she met with Warsaw Community Schools’ Superintendent Dr. David Hoffert about the project to move the trail to the school system.

“What we received was information that stated, not no, but not now,” said Roe. “We are going to phase it now into a different project and also continue with the original project that will not receive (Community Amenities Program) funding.”

Roe said Hoffert told her there’s a specific type of study that has to be completed in order for the school board to give full approval for the walking path.

The board’s next meeting is at 1 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 16, in the Kosciusko County Courthouse’s old courtroom.