LIMA — Lima City Council will hold a third and final reading for advertising for bids for the Buttonbush Trail Project during its regular meeting at 7 p.m. Monday at the Lima Municipal Building.
The project involves incorporating recreational trails on 25.7 acres of wetlands in Lima’s Central Point Business Park. Previous readings have failed to gain the two-thirds majority needed to pass, with 2nd Ward Councilman Sam McLean, 3rd Ward Councilman Jesse Lowe II and 6th Ward Councilman Derry Glenn voting against the measure during its second reading. The measure can be passed by a simple majority on its third reading.
Public Works director Howard Elstro said in previous meetings that no public funds would be used for the project, with funding coming from a Clean Ohio Fund grant used for green space acquisition and wildlife preservation.
“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.”
One of the main objections to the project is that it is using taxpayer funds for a piece of land that no private entity would want, according to McLean, with concerns about how the city may have to fund future maintenance of the project.
“I have not supported the Buttonbush project from the beginning,” McLean said after the ordinance’s second reading. “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.”
