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 Staff photo/Katie Yantis: A truck dumps dirt along the Miami and Erie Canal towpath where it crosses Ohio 66. The project will make it easier for those using the towpath to cross Ohio 66.
By KATIE YANTIS
Staff Writer
ST. MARYS — Hiker, bikers and walkers in the region will notice a
difference in a few sections of the Miami and Erie Canal towpath trail
starting this week.
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Village to fill in canal |
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Wednesday, 25 March 2009 |
By ANGELA WEAVER
Staff Writer
NEW BREMEN — The vote regarding the canal located near Lock One Theatre came down to a tie breaker at New Bremen Village Council’s meeting Tuesday night.
Mayor Jeff Pape said the village sent out a poll in the village’s March newsletter asking residents their opinion on which option the village should take regarding the canal area located at the northwest corner of State Routes 66 and 274.
The four options included full depth concrete walls similar to the construction at Lock One with an estimated cost of $577,000; a shallow retaining wall estimated to cost between $150,000 to $223,000; an open grass canal similar to the canal south of Lock One estimated to cost $34,000 to $149,000; an enclosed canal estimated to cost $85,000.
“We received only 21 votes,” Pape said, adding that the options came as a tie between the open grass canal and the enclosed canal, with one person opting for the first option. “I’ve not heard anything other than enclosed myself.”
Councilor Don Kuck said he heard four people choose the enclosed option, while Councilors Craig Hoffman and John Schwartz said they heard the opposite.
“I’ve heard residents wanting the open option for heritage purposes,” Hoffman said, also citing the lower cost for taxpayers. “This looks nice and everything, but I just couldn’t see closing it in.”
The village has been working with the New Bremen-New Knoxville Rotary Club, who would be responsible for the beautification of the area, to improve the site, and Pape said the subject has gone through six Rotary presidents.
“We’ve got to stabilize the canal,” Pape said.
Councilor Dennis Burnell also discussed the stabilization issue.
“The main concern is we leave it like it is and the West Bank gives away,” he said.
After the discussion on the topic, Village Solicitor Steve Smith said councilors would not have to have a reading but would have to make a decision so that the preliminary engineering could be done.
When it came to the vote based on enclosing the canal, Kuck, Burnell and Craig Meyer said “yes,” while Schwartz, Hoffman and Delores Stienecker said “no.”
The tie-breaker was then moved to Pape — his second as mayor — who voted to fill in the canal.
Councilors also:
• Held the first reading of an ordinance to change the language on a section of the village’s General Code of Ordinances regarding noise restrictions adding an exemption to the list for the use of driving birds from public utilities.
Village Administrator Wayne York said the village had received a complaint two weeks ago regarding the village’s use of Bird Bangers — non-lethal, blank screamers that are launched into the air — to scare geese in the area because of their violation of a fireworks restriction.
“By losing the Bird Bangers, we’ve lost the battle,” York said of the influx of Canadian geese in the village. “The population is way down, but we’ve got at least four nests out there and five to six eggs per nest.”
York said the village has been using the recorded sounds and laser lights.
“We thought we were OK but clearly that drive, that instinct, to nest is so powerful it goes beyond the ability to work,” he said.
York said he reviewed the fireworks paperwork and because the Bird Bangers do not require a licensed operator, they are not considered fireworks.
“Even if you demonstrate this is not a licensed firework, we still have the noise ordinance that could be used against us,” he said, adding the idea of the exemption.
York said the village has also had problems with seagulls and they do not react to the recorded goose distress sounds and only react to the Bird Bangers, which the village has been using for five years.
• Heard Public Works Superintendent Larry Wissman’s annual report.
• Discussed transfers, which York said Councilors could wait until the April meeting when he would have suggestions because he would not have numbers until the end of March.
• Stienecker said anyone who is interested in purchasing a CD or DVD copy of Stan Kuenning’s speech at the New Bremen Historical Society’s dinner through the museum can contact her at 419-629-2685.
The next meeting of New Bremen Village Council will be at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, April 14 at the municipal center.
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Last Updated ( Wednesday, 15 April 2009 )
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