The subject was pedestrian and bike paths in Bluffton.

Bluffton council’s streets and alleys committee  of Joe Sehlhorst and Roger Warren was updated on the Bluffton Pedestrian and Bike Pathway Steering Committee progress during a joint meeting of both groups on April 2.

Fifteen persons, including several village officials plus pathway members, attended the meeting in the town hall, which was the first-ever between the pathway steering committee and the village.

Dick Ramseyer chairs the pathway committee, formed by council. He reported that the pathway board’s number one and number two priorities are completed. Those priorities are:

• A walking and bike path to the State Route 103 businesses – the path opened in October.

• A walking and bike path to Riverbend and Maple Crest – funding is completed and it is now on the 2017 calendar for construction by the Ohio Department of Transportation.

“Now that our two top priorities are completed, where do we go from here?” Ramseyer asked village representatives at the meeting.

Pathway committee members have identified Bentley Road as a possible project, but wanted to hear from village officials on the idea.

Sehlhorst, chair of the street and alleys committee, said that the council has allocated $50,000 this year to work on sidewalk improvements and those funds are already accounted.

In addition, the village set aside $250,000 for street improvements and those funds are also allocated.

Sehlhorst said that a village study of improving Bentley Road from Augsburger to Kibler is estimated at $62,500. That money would include a sidewalk on one side of Bentley and would not include any road widening.

Several ideas were discussed but not action was taken, as this meeting was simply for information sharing.

The two groups decided to meet four times a year. The next meeting will be at noon, Thursday, July 9, in the town hall.

Pathway committee background
In the fall of 2009, the Bluffton Lions pledged $4,500, over half of the money needed, to fund a Bluffton pathway study. In March of 2009 Bluffton council held a pedestrian–bikeway master plan hearing.

Bluffton resident Neil Hauenstein designed a plan accepted by the Bluffton council. Fred Rodabaugh, Bluffton mayor at the time, appointed a committee to see the project to completion. 

The steering committee’s purpose is to identify stages of the pathway based on the master plan. It seeks funding sources, grants, and creates planning steps and pre-building processes. Committee proposals go to the Bluffton council for final approval.