Village applies for road grant
- Published: September 16, 2010
At their Sept. 7 meeting, Village Council members unanimously approved a grant application for state funding for the widening of a portion of Dayton-Yellow Springs Road, a move that is necessary to create an intersection for entering a new access road to the Center for Business and Education, or CBE.
The resolution will allow Village staff to apply for a grant from the Ohio Public Works Commission for most of the $188,000 cost of the project. If the grant is approved, the Village match would be about 16 percent of the total cost, or about $30,000. However, because the Greene County Engineer and the Miami Township Trustees have each agreed to pay 5 percent of that amount, the Village would pay $27,189.77, according to a memo to Council from Village Planner Ed Amrhein.
The Village should know by the end of the year whether it receives the grant, Amrhein said, and if so, work on the intersection will begin next summer. If the grant is not received, the Village will submit it again next year, but will still be able to move ahead with the construction of the CBE access road, Amrhein said in an interview this week.
The Village has no choice but to widen the road to comply with county standards, since Dayton-Yellow Springs Road is a county road, Amrhein said. Late last year County Engineer Bob Geyer notified the Village that it needed to build new turn lanes and make other improvements to the road at the entrance of the CBE. The road changes had not been part of the original CBE plan.
“We’re required to do this. We don’t have a choice but to upgrade the intersection if we want to access Dayton-Yellow Springs Road,” Amrhein said.
However, the Village is opting to make the fewest changes necessary to create new turn lanes into the new CBE access road. The new construction will involve a gradual tapering of the road’s current 24-foot width to a 36-foot width and back down again in a 900-foot long area on both sides of the new intersection. For a shorter length of road in the center of that area, about 50 feet in length, the road will be widened to 48 feet to accommodate a left turn lane the length of a semi tractor-trailor for cars heading east. The road will also be widened for a 50-foot-long right turn lane into the CBE for westbound drivers.
This plan involves significantly less road-widening than the plan first considered last year for the CBE project, which would have been built to 55 mph standards, the speed limit of the road then. However, a recent state law requires that speed limits be raised and lowered in 10 mph increments for specified distances upon entering or leaving speed zones. Consequently, the speed limit of Dayton-Yellow Springs Road heading west from the village will be 35 mph to the western limits of Yellow Springs High School, at which point it will rise to 45 mph before increasing to 55 mph. The Village was able to design the new intersection upgrades to 35 mph standards rather than 55 mph standards.
“This is the minimum we can do to satisfy county standards and engineering safety standards and still provide an access road,” Amrhein said.
While the Village could have chosen to have no access road that connects with Dayton-Yellow Springs Road and instead have an entrance to the CBE only from East Enon Road, that choice would have required more costly upgrades to the current intersection between East Enon and Dayton-Yellow Springs, Amrhein said.
Several Council members stated their approval of the current plan because, by using lower speed limits, it creates safer driving conditions in the area close to Yellow Springs High School.
In other Council business:
• Council unanimously approved the first reading of an ordinance that revises the Village building demolition process by requiring those who plan to demolish a structure to apply for a demolition permit.
• Council approved the re-appointment of John Chambers of Coolidge Law in Dayton as the Village Solicitor. Chambers charges $160 hourly for his services, which is half the fee charged to private clients.
• Council approved a resolution that authorizes the necessity of a proposed tax levy, for certification by the county auditor.
• Village Finance Director Sharon Potter reported that the annual Village financial audit has been a “clean audit.”
• Council announced that the date for the upcoming forum on fluoridation of Village water will be held Saturday, Nov. 13, at 2 p.m. Both pro- and anti-fluoride perspectives will be presented.
• Village Manager Mark Cundiff announced that the skate park recently received the donation of a half-pipe skate ramp from DNA Distribution, Alien Workshop and Habitat. The 24-foot ramp is “a nice addition to the park,” he said.
• Council’s next regular meeting will take place Monday, Sept. 20, at 7 p.m., at Council chambers at the Bryan Community Center.
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