LIMA — Efforts to create a wetland preserve in Lima’s Central Point Business Park met with some opposition at Monday’s Lima City Council meeting.
With one council member absent, two other council members voted aginst legislation to advertise for bids for the Buttonbush Trail Project. This left five council members voting in favor of it, short of the two-thirds majority needed for the legislation to pass, forcing it to a second reading.
The Buttonbush project would incorporate recreational trails on 25.7 acres of wetlands within the business park, joining it to existing walking trails and requiring minimal maintenance, according to Lima Public Works Director Howard Elstro.
“This is the third and final phase of the project,” he said. “This will serve as a preservation for wetlands as well as recreation, with over a mile of pathways being cut through the Buttonbush Preserve. Walkers can use it, as well as off-road bikers.”
Elstro emphasized that no money from the city would be required for the project, with grant money from the Clean Ohio Fund used for the project. The land had originally been purchased by the city from the Allen County Development Corp. for $169,300, as reported in a previous Lima News story.
“There are no funds coming from the city’s general fund,” he said. “These are grant funds through the state of Ohio for greenspace acquisition to acquire open space lands for wildlife preservation, the preservation of wetlands.”
Both 2nd Ward Councilman Sam McLean and 3rd Ward Councilman Jesse Lowe II voted against the project, citing it as a waste of taxpayer money.
“I have not supported the Buttonbush project from the beginning,” McLean said. “The issue with this is that we [bought] a piece of wetland that no one else would ever purchase. We bought it from a public entity with state dollars. I don’t think that’s the best use of public funds.”
“It’s a useless swamp,” Lowe said. “We’re going to have to maintain it. I have one block in my ward that I want paved, and we don’t have any money. If we can find money for a swamp, we can find money for other things.”
