Centerville-Washington Parks joined Miamisburg and Bellbrook-Sugarcreek as the only Miami Valley park districts to receive ratings of outstanding or better for 2009.
Centerville-Washington Parks’ outstanding rating came for their Iron Horse Trail Paving Project. The trail, a paved bike and walking path, begins at Hempstead Station Road in Kettering and goes south 1.9 miles, mostly through a wooded corridor in Centerville, past Iron Horse Park and terminating at Interstate 675.
Carol Kennard, director of the park district, said the trail was a joint effort of Centerville, Kettering and the park district, and relied in part on grants from Clean Ohio Trails, Bikes Belong, Washington Twp. and the Yeck Foundation. The trail is part of a larger multiuse trail system that was approved in 2005.
“We looked at the whole community and different areas that we wanted to connect people to — parks, schools, libraries, ice cream places,” Kennard said. “We already owned the abandoned railroad bed, but it was a priority for our residents to have a separate paved trail.”
The north part of the Iron Horse Trail was completed in 2008, and Kennard said that segment accomplished a key goal of connecting Centerville to the Creekside Trail and other large Miami Valley trail systems. The south portion to I-675 was finished late last year, and Kennard said the park district hopes to find a way to continue the trail south, either over or under the highway, or connecting to the existing Loop Road bridge over I-675.
• The park district also won a Healthy Ohio Parks and Recreation Award from OPRA, recognizing its overall efforts to encourage healthy lifestyles.
Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2278 or
jkelley@DaytonDailyNews.com.
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