Oxford Receives $750,000 Grant For New Bike Path

BY JAMES STEINBAUER
Miami University journalism student

The city of Oxford has received a $750,000 grant from the Ohio-Kentucky-Indiana Regional Council of Governments to fund an additional section of the Oxford Area Trails.

The grant, which was secured in mid-October but will not be in hand until 2019, will be matched by an additional $450,000 donated by the city, Miami University and local residents for an overall project budget of $1.2 million.

The dollars will cover the cost of plans and actual construction of a trail that will run from State Route 73 east of Oxford to Peffer Park, along U.S. 27 in the southern part of the city.

The new trail is only the second phase of a larger trail plan that will encircle Oxford like a wheel, acting as a highway between historic landmarks, neighborhoods and sites like the Black Covered Bridge, Talawanda High School and the Knolls of Oxford.

“[The city] wanted to create a recreational path that would connect the neighborhoods, major destinations like schools and all these other historical and recreational assets we have,” said David Prytherch, chair of the city’s planning commission. “So this trail is the wheel, but it’s also the spokes, because we want people to get out to the trail for alternative transportation in addition to recreation.”

Work underway on phase 1 on

The city is still working on the first phase of the trail -- which runs from the Black Covered Bridge to the Dewitt Cabin north of State Route 73 and is expected to be completed in 2017 -- so it has not yet hired an outside group to design the full plan.

Nonetheless, construction of the the new leg of the trail is tentatively scheduled to start and finish in 2019.

“Part of that depends on how accurate that $1.2 million is,” said Sam Perry, the Oxford city planner. “So it’s kind of a chicken-and-egg situation where we didn’t want to spend $100,000 designing this and not get the grant. We got the grant and now we’re going to get a detailed design in place.”

The money can also be spent to ensure that the natural environment is not negatively impacted by trail construction. Perry said one particular concern for the city is the Indiana Bat, which roosts in large trees such as oaks, maples and cottonwoods. The bat is listed as an endangered species by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and roosting trees can’t be removed during the bats’ hibernation period from October to April.

Oxford Mayor Kate Rousmaniere said there’s a correlation between the city's recreational spaces and economic development.

“Around the country and the state, Oxford is known as a really beautiful town. People love to come here and we want to keep encouraging that,” said Rousmaniere. “We don’t just want to be ‘Anywhere USA.’ We want to be the place people come back to.”

Photo: The city of Oxford's new $750,000 grant will fund a new portion of the Oxford Area Trails plan, which will circle the city like a wheel. -- Photo contributed by Oxford Area Trails