Plans for Aurora hike-and-bike trail move forward

Aurora City Council gave final approval March 25 to a conditional zoning certificate for a 10-foot-wide hike-and-bike trail to be sited along the former Norfolk Southern Railroad property.

The 2.8-mile trail will start at Chamberlain Road in Mantua and end at Route 82 in Aurora’s historic Station District. It will run adjacent to other park properties, including Aurora’s Paddock River Preserve and Spring Hill. One section will be adjacent to Aurora Sanctuary, a state sanctuary owned by the Greater Cleveland Audubon Society.

Formerly owned by the Norfolk Southern railroad, the right of way the hike-and-bike trail will occupy is now owned by FirstEnergy. The land itself bisects Aurora. After years of litigation against the energy corporation, which wanted to build transmission towers in the right of way, city leaders ended up with a permanent recreational easement along the former railroad corridor.

The conditional zoning certificate is needed because the path winds through property that is zoned residential.

Council members are also eying a $36,113 engineering services contract to design a 325-foot waterline extension in neighboring Geauga County.

The water line will travel Route 43 from Discount Tire in Bainbridge Township to the Solon city border, and will provide what Mayor Ann Womer Benjamin called “redundancy” for Aurora residents.

Aurora is paying for the line because Aurora supplies water and sewer to a development in Bainbridge along Route 43. Connecting the water line to the Solon water line will ensure that Aurora residents have access to water should Aurora’s water service be interrupted, Womer Benjamin said.

Council will consider the matter for the third and final time during its April 9 regular session. Its regular meeting was set for April 8, but anticipating difficulties due to eclipse traffic, council rescheduled its meeting for the next day.

Aurora is also poised to spend $86,700 on 20 identical light poles to be installed on the west side of Chillicothe Road between Pioneer Trail and Aurora Hudson Road. The city has already installed the same posts in other parts of Aurora’s Historic District. As with the water line legislation, council will consider this measure for the third and final time on April 9.

Also still in limbo is a $4.5 million proposal to purchase part of the former SeaWorld amusement park and all of Geauga Lake itself as Aurora’s law director continues to negotiate contract details with ICP Geauga Lake LLC.