The Oxford Board of Education gave the nod to Oxford Township to design a safety path that will travel around the district’s property along the new high school.
“There is already a bike safety path running part way along N. Oxford Rd.,” explained Assistant Superintendent Ron Franey. “We had plans already to continue this down by our ball fields.”
Designs drawn for the school district as a part of the bond issue show the path connecting to the existing safety path on N. Oxford Rd., continuing down the roadway and then curving in at the retention ponds, thereby rounding the corner at Ray Rd. The path would travel along the ponds towards the ball fields, and then turn back towards Ray Rd., where the path would continue until touching the Meijer commercial property.
However, engineers with Rowe Inc., the design firm for Oxford Twp., have created a slightly different proposal that would allow the township and school district to work together on the project.
“We were concerned about connecting a safety public path with a private pathway that goes through school property,” said Shannon Perry, an engineer with Rowe Inc., at the Jan. 13 board meeting. “We’re not here tonight to get a formal motion, we just need to know if the board would be willing to grant easements for our design.”
The design created by Rowe Inc. also has the safety path connecting to the existing bike path on N. Oxford Rd. and traveling in front of the school towards Ray Rd., but at that point, the path follows the roadway closely and does not enter school property. Instead, the pathway curves along the outside of the retention ponds, and then continues straight along Ray Rd. to the Meijer commercial property.
Vanessa Harris, a grant writer with Rowe Inc. and designer for the path, said the township would need easements for around the retention ponds, which would include rail fencing for safety, and to move around any existing landscaping.
“The idea is to try and avoid all mature trees basically,” she explained. “We don’t want to take out any more trees than necessary.”
Also, Rowe’s design has the safety path being 10 feet wide instead of 8 feet.
“Basically we needed to do this to be able to apply for grants,” said Harris. “We also need to connect to Meijer’s and with other system’s in the township.”
Harris said that Oxford Twp. is looking at four different grants in relation to this project, and keeping the path off school property would help with applying for all of them. In addition, keeping the safety path public would remove the liability and maintenance from the schools.
“I think keeping it on the outer edge of the school property makes sense,” said board Vice President Lee Barclay.
Board member Doug Myer asked if the district was required to provide the path and how much funding would the board need to contribute.
Franey told board members that at this moment no funding would be necessary; however, the district may need to contribute some funds later if matching amounts are required by the grants. He added that working with the township on this project does not keep the district from moving forward with a pathway to the ball fields.
“We can still use the plans to go through the property ourselves,” said Franey, “at least, that’s our intention at the moment.”
The board agreed and gave Oxford Township the go-ahead for creating final designs.