About thirty-five people attended a recent public meeting at City Hall on March 9, presented by the Cleveland Metroparks, regarding the completion of the Metroparks Trail Project. The project will finally ramp up this year, with the section that runs through North Royalton.
The project consists of Phase I, which was approved for funding through the Clean Ohio Trails Fund, runs from Brecksville Road to Broadview Road. Phase II encompasses the expanse from Broadview Road to Ridge Road. Phase II covers about three miles, for a total of six miles for both phases. That phase was approved through the Clean Ohio Trails Fund for funding as well.
According to Metroparks officials, the ongoing work of Phase I is expected to be completed in early summer, with landscaping and tree planting taking place in September. Phase II, which includes the section in North Royalton, is expected to start in this month and be completed in the fall of 2018.
“A new 10-foot-wide, paved trail along Valley Parkway is in the process of being constructed in two phases within Brecksville Reservation between Ridge Road in North Royalton and Brecksville Road in Brecksville. Phase I of the Valley Parkway Connector Trail will extend over three miles to provide a paved trail between Broadview Road in Broadview Heights to Brecksville Road . At Broadview Road, it will connect with the existing trail that accesses the City of Broadview Heights’ administrative and recreation complex to the north,” according to Metroparks Senior Strategic Park Planner, Sara Byrnes Maier. “With completion of the approximately three miles of Phase Il in 2018, there will be a continuous off-street paved all purpose trail from Detroit Avenue in Lakewood in the Rocky River Reservation to the Cuyahoga Valley National Park and Towpath Trail, which extends to New Philadelphia to the south and will soon extend to downtown Cleveland and the lakefront.” Phase II of the project will connect to the existing all purpose trail at the Stuhr Woods Picnic Area and on to the Mill Stream Run Reservation.
The North Royalton City Council had previously approved a partnership agreement with the Park Commissioners of the Cleveland Metroparks. The Metroparks had secured an application for the Clean Ohio Trails Fund for the engineering and design of the Emerald Necklace All Purpose Trail. The agreement supports this endeavor. North Royalton had agreed to pay $50,000 “to satisfy the local match requirement,” according to Jordan. According to Mayor Bob Stefanik, “the North Royalton portion came from a wellness grant from UH Parma.”
The proposed cost of Phase II, $2.1 million, according to Metroparks officials. In the end , the funding sources for Phase I are the federal Congestions Mitigation Air Quality Improvement Program, (NOACA), the Clean Ohio Trail Fund, administered through Northeast Ohio Area Coordinating Agency; the city of Brecksville and the Cleveland Metroparks. The funding sources for Phase II are the Clean Ohio Trail Fund, the cities of Broadview Heights and North Royalton and the Cleveland Metroparks.
The plan for Phase II is to clear a 20-foot zone of trees and brush by April 1. Metroparks Officials said that full-sized trees will be planted to replace those that will need to be removed. The project will start at Broadview Road and go west in sections. Once the zone is cleared, they will remove six inches of topsoil, then add six inches of crushed stone and three inches of asphalt. Curb ramps will be added to the intersections. In low areas, a retaining wall that will feature vertical gardens will be added.
Mayor Bob Stefanik is pleased with the movement for the upcoming project, stating, “Finally!”

By GLORIA PLEVA KACIK
Contributing Writer