Ernst Trail approaches city connection

How would business owners react if a new trail planned for the city of Meadville tripled the width of their sidewalk while continuing to hold them responsible for clearing the walkway of snow and ice during the winter?

The question was among multiple considerations raised last week as Meadville City Council members voted their unanimous support for plans to connect Ernst Trail to Bicentennial Park.

“A hoped for connection of the Ernst Trail to the city is, it seems, very much a reality within the near term future,” City Planner Peter Grella told council members during their meeting Tuesday.

The extension will take Ernst Trail from the eastern end of Shippen Street in Vernon Township to the city park that runs along French Creek just south of the Mead Avenue bridge. It’s a distance of just under a half mile as the crow flies, but one that has taken years of efforts to bring to fruition, particularly by French Creek Recreational Trails Inc., the nonprofit that oversees Ernst Trail, and more recently the Economic Progress Alliance of Crawford County (EPACC).

The shortness of the distance belies its complexity, according to Jim Becker, EPACC’s executive director.

“It’s definitely complicated by its sheer location and the obstacles that exist — the physical barriers that exist,” Becker said in a phone interview Friday, “but it’s a critical connection.”

It’s the missing piece, Becker continued, that will link 12 miles of existing trail to downtown Meadville, the recently completed Bessemer Trail and the conversion of a 2.5-mile section of French Creek Parkway into a trail.

It’s also a piece that involves not just crossing French Creek but bridging the varying interests of two municipalities, the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT), and multiple business owners whose properties border the rights-of-way that will be used for the trail.

The final course of the trail connector has not been settled, but Grella said the leading proposal uses existing sidewalk on the south side of the Mercer Street bridge; then on the south sidewalk of Mercer Street up to a point approximately mid-block before the rail crossings where it will cross Mercer Street to the north side; then on the north side of Mercer Street to the west side of French Creek Parkway; then a new path to the side of the parkway north to Mead Avenue; and then west along Mead Avenue to French Street and Bicentennial Park.

The paved trail would be up to 10 feet wide in some areas, Grella told council, and would be located within rights-of-way belonging to either the city or PennDOT.

City Manager Maryann Menanno said the city would not be financially responsible for constructing the trail or for trail maintenance.

While existing portions of the Ernst Trail are not cleared during winter weather, the anticipated city connection would use existing sidewalks or take the place of existing sidewalks.

“One of the complications that we will have to figure out,” Grella said, “is how to navigate the city’s sidewalk policy.”

City ordinances place responsibility for clearing snow and ice from sidewalks on property owners, but Grella said council may wish to modify that rule with regard to future trail locations.

“I believe for this to be successful and fair — because it would no longer be the traditional sidewalk path — that property owners should not be responsible for the care of a widened, deliberately advertised trail route in front of their businesses,” Grella said.

City attorney Tim Wachter suggested that in the case of a 10-foot-wide trail, property owners could be billed approximately 30 percent of snow removal costs, based on the width of a typical traditional sidewalk.

A final decision on maintenance responsibilities won’t come until later in the trail development process. Though closer to reality, the city connector portion will still take a bit longer.

“We’re starting to see things come together,” Becker said, linking the trail work to an emphasis on outdoor recreation that is a highlight of the recently completed Crawford County comprehensive plan. “This is all tied together in an effort to have a coordinated, inclusive voice as we start to truly build out outdoor recreational assets for the county.”