State Capital Budget Provides $2.5 Million for Projects throughout Troy
A Recreational Trail on the South Side of the Great Miami River Is Back For Discussion
Yesterday, both houses of the Ohio General Assembly approved the state’s two-year capital budget that came in at an astounding $4.2 Billion (Note: This has been edited as previous versions said $4.2 Trillion….we apologize for this error). This year’s capital budget process combines the state’s regular capital spending projects with a unique and “transformational” $717 Million fund of surplus tax revenue that was set aside last year to be used on local projects throughout the state.
For Miami County, two projects made the cut for the $717 Million fund.
The $2.0 Million Great Miami River Recreation Connectivity Project will seek to put in a 4,000 foot recreational trail on the South Side of the Great Miami River. This project was last discussed in detail by Council in September as it was asked to give it’s blessing to a grant application to the Miami Valley Regional Planning Commission as the project was attempting to get funding from the Federal Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. That grant request was approved by council, but there were many concerned about the potential project.
Many questioned whether this particular project meet the recreational needs of the community and whether this funding was needed at this time, especially since the low dam removal may not occur at the earliest in 2025. Some residents talked about how this infrastructure was redundant considering that there is already a recreational trail on the north side of the Great Miami River. Others talked about the bike infrastructure in the community is needed to link the western portion of the city to downtown, not necessarily linking the east side of town to the recreational trail, since there is already an accessible link at Boyer Park.
This publication has gone to great lengths to discuss this project and this is post from September 23, 2023 goes to great length to inform the public of this project.
You can watch the September 25, 2023 meeting of the City Council’s Recreation and Parks Committee that discussed this project here:
The $2.0 Million grant from the State Capital Budget doesn’t approve the project, it merely secures funding for the multi-million project. The project still needs to be let out for bidding, a measure that would need to be approved by City Council.
The State Capital Budget also approved $500,000 in funding for the Troy-Miami County Public Library. The funding will be used to improve the HVAC system in the library building.
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