T-L Photo/LENNY WITTENBROOK Barnesville Village Council meets on Sept. 25 and decides to move ahead with a Rails to Trails project.

BARNESVILLE — The village will proceed with the long-delayed and much-discussed Rails to Trails and tunnel project as originally planned in order to make the most of the awarded grant funding.

Two weeks ago, Ohio Department of Transportation District 11 Local Public Agency Manager Dan Lorenz, as well as project engineers from Pennoni Associates, had met to discuss details of the project with village officials and concerned residents. The $2.9 million project — which will turn a portion of the old B&O Railroad bed through the village into a biking and walking trail and make needed repairs and improvements to the old railroad tunnel that runs beneath Main Street — was first awarded federal funding through Belomar Regional Council and ODOT’s Transportation Alternative Program in 2018.

At a council meeting Sept. 25, Village Administrator Roger Deal read an email from Lorenz, who stated that since the project had been pushed back so many times it was now critical that the village move on to construction.

Lorenz provided the village with two options: Proceed with the plans as originally drawn with a pathway extending along Railroad Street to Bethesda Street, or terminate the project at the end of the Barnesville Depot property.

The route along Railroad Street had become the main point of contention after it was learned that the designated path would cross the street a number of times to avoid right-of-way issues and excavation work that would have added over $200,000 to the project.

Councilman Brian Yarnall expressed dismay that these were the only two options, saying he had hoped the money could be used to go as far down the South side of Railroad Street as possible.

It was explained that the reason this was not an option was that it would reset the environmental and planning studies, which would further delay the project.

Deal said he and Mayor Dale Bunting had discussed the possibility of ending the project at the depot and the village working on the path down Railroad Street in the future.

In response to a query from Yarnall, Deal said he did not know how much, if any, of the village’s $100,000 contribution to the project would be reduced if the project was stopped at the depot.

Council President Les Tickhill said he believed the village should go ahead with the project as originally planned. Councilmen Tim McKelvey and Terry McCort both agreed.

“Why wouldn’t we get as much as we could?” McCort asked.

McKelvey suggested that further improvements to the Railroad Street pathway could be made by the village in the future, with all agreeing that getting the tunnel shored up was the most important aspect of the whole effort.

Tickhill made a motion to go with the original plan. The motion passed with Councilman Tony Johnson, Tickhill, McKelvey and McCort in favor, while Councilmen Steve Hill and Yarnall both voted “no.”

Meanwhile, council discussed with Adam Ackerman the possibility of using concrete to improve other alleys in the village after seeing the results of recent work in the vicinity of East Main and Church streets.

Council also authorized Deal to sign an agreement to accept a 65% Federal Emergency Management Agency grant to repair a slip at Rotary Lake in Barnesville Memorial Park, with Deal noting that he expected the village’s 35% to come in at just over $180,000 according to the engineer’s earlier estimates.

Meanwhile, Bunting and Deal both expressed their appreciation to all the village crew and the community for another successful Pumpkin Festival.

Council also approved paying bills in the amount of $568,810.19 and approved building permits for Katherine Stover to install solar panels at 312 W. Church St., for Daniel Yount to install vinyl siding at 618 N. Broadway St. and for Karen Large to install a metal roof at 612 N. Broadway.

Barnesville Village Council’s next meeting will be held at 7 p.m. Oct. 10 in the Municipal Building on Arch Street.