Group seeks funding to resurface trails

DAVE MOSIER/independent editor

A group led by local attorney and competition runner Justin Dickman is looking at improvements to the trails around the Van Wert reservoirs.

Dickman said the trails, first installed in 1993 and later expanded in the mid-2000s — and patched at various times — are in bad shape and need resurfaced.

“That surface is currently asphalt and in a very deteriorated state,” Dickman explained. “We’ve reached out to three engineering firms to look at (the trail system) and give us quotes for different options.”

Resurfacing the trails totally with asphalt is probably not the best option, Dickman said, because of the expense and maintenance issues. Cost to resurface with asphalt would cost somewhere between $925,000 and $1.3 million.

“That’s not really economically viable for us to do,” he noted.

A better option, Dickman said, is using composite-aggregate materials to resurface the trails. That project would cost approximately $250,000, still a significant amount of money, but would also include new signage, drainage repair, and removal of outdated exercise equipment adjacent to the trails.

Aggregate is concrete and other materials that are ground up and put down as a base layer, while a fine aggregate layer comprised of a combination of materials — sand, gravel, crushed stone, slag, recycled concrete, and geosynthetic materials — is laid over top of the base.

Dickman said he and other stakeholders have reached out to area communities that use aggregate materials to see how the surface holds up, noting that the Allen County village of Spencerville uses an aggregate surface on community trails.

“It’s something that other park districts have found very successful,” he said, noting that such a surface could last 20 years or more, with regular maintenance, while adding that a composite-aggregate surface would also be easier and less expensive to maintain.

Currently, Dickman is working with several other groups, including the Van Wert County Parks District, Van Wert Parks & Recreation Department, Van Wert Health, Van Wert Rotary Club, the Van Wert County Foundation, and local businesses, to find funding for the trail resurfacing project.

The groups are seeking funding from local organizations, as well as matching grant money, and area donors. In addition, Van Wert Safety-Service Director Jay Fleming has requested that City Council appropriate $20,000 to be used for the project, as well as maintenance costs.

Dickman, who founded and operates the Van Wert 4-Mile race, also has placed the revenue from that race into a fund administered by the county foundation to use for the resurfacing project.

The local attorney said resurfacing the trails is an important community project, noting that the trails are used by thousands of area residents, as well as local cross country teams. 

“You can’t go out there during daylight hours and not see someone walking, running, or biking,” Dickman said.

In addition to resurfacing the trails, the county foundation is also looking at connecting trails in Hiestand Woods Park to the trails, while future plans could involve connections to the bike path on the west side of Van Wert, and possibly the creation of a countywide trail system.

Dickman said the trails are not only an important recreational asset, but such facilities also make the community attractive to developers.

“If you look at economic development, and you try to attract, recruit, and retain a workforce and talented people, there a couple of things that businesses and industries look at, and parks and recreation are a major part of that,” he noted. “There is a need for us to invest in our community, and if we didn’t do that, I don’t know how we can attract people under the age of 50 to come here, and for people under the age of 50 to stay here.”

The trails group will also be represented at a public meeting set for 10 a.m.-1 p.m. this Saturday, November 16, at Hiestand Woods Park that seeks to gain public input on both the park and trails projects.