Trustees seek input on building more sidewalks

MIAMI TOWNSHIP, OHIO - The Miami Township Board of Trustees are holding an open house Sept. 10 to get residents’ input on building additional sidewalks and bike paths in the community to make it easier to get to schools, parks and businesses.

Residents will have the opportunity to express their views on pedestrian travel and constructing additional sidewalks and pathways when the Board of Trustees and a committee of local residents studying the need for more sidewalks will hold an Open House on its “Connections” sidewalk plan at the Miami Township Civic Center, 6101 Meijer Drive.

Residents are welcome to visit the Open House any time between 6:30 and 8 p.m. and comment on draft proposals prepared by the ‘Connections’ committee, as well as draw their own sidewalks on blank maps to recommend to the committee. The input from this Open House will help the committee prepare a long-range plan for pedestrian and bicycle travel within Miami Township for consideration by the Board of Trustees by the end of 2008.

The ‘Connections’ committee was formed earlier this year as a partnership between local schools and the township to improve pedestrian travel, give students and residents an opportunity to enjoy more physical activities, as well as possibly reduce traffic from cars traveling short distances within their own neighborhood to visit stores, schools and other destinations that might otherwise be made via sidewalks.

If the Trustees approve the plan, it will allow the township to seek grants and other funding sources to hopefully construct sidewalks to make it easier to get to schools, parks and businesses.