By Liz Adkins
InkFreeNews

WARSAW — The Kosciusko County Department of Parks and Recreation Board continued discussions on drainage concerns with the Chinworth Trail extension project during a meeting Thursday, Aug. 15.

John Nelson, project site manager with Triad Associates Inc., updated the board on drainage plans and provided a revised cost estimate for the project.

“We’ve moved the cul-de-sac and added sound to the pedestrian crossing warning system,” said Nelson in explanation of the new cost estimate, which is $369,500.

Nelson said most of the driveway culverts will go away, and he told affected citizens in attendance that county government asked Triad to take the drainage system further east.

“They want us to tie it to the (Tippecanoe) River,” said Nelson. “We really need an 18-inch pipe, but there’s a 15-inch pipe, which is probably what’s causing all the drainage problems. So what we’re looking at now is bringing the piped system further east toward the intersection where we’ll have more room to put a structure on the north, more room to put a structure on the south, all within the right-of-way, and then branch out into the Chinworth trailhead park with a drainage outlet that will go to the river.”

Nelson also said there would be a decrease in the amount of water going into nearby ponds.

Board President Rob Bishop said the engineering of the drainage exceeded the scope of what the board gave to Triad. As a result, Triad proposed a change order in the amount of $11,250. The board approved recommending the change order to the county commissioners.

Board members said the Kosciusko County Historical Society owns the Chinworth park area, but said the society has stated they wouldn’t mind no longer being involved with it.

“We don’t think the historical society has a problem with the direction we’re going, but there’s no formal agreement at this point in time,” said Bishop.

Bishop also addressed an additional matter connected to the project. He said he asked the Kosciusko County Sheriff’s Office to set up speed cameras on West Old Road 30 in the park’s vicinity. Cameras were set up during two weeks in July.

Bishop said the cameras’ data showed motorists’ average speeds were between 45 to 53 mph. Over 100 vehicles traveled between 60 to 65 mph, but there were no recorded speeds higher than that. The speed limit in that area is 50 mph.

One citizen in attendance said a lot of traffic slows in that area to turn from West Old Road 30 onto CR 350W.

In other business, Katie Clark, landscape architect and project manager at Taylor Siefker Williams (TSW) Design Group, presented an update on the trails master plan.

Clark said the group is working on a draft for design guidelines and hopes to have that completed by the end of August.

The proposed trail routes have been digitized and added to an interactive mapping tool.

“We’re facilitating online conversations through that tool and continue to push that out to different groups,” said Clark. “We’re getting good feedback through that in terms of what questions people have, different ideas, and general thumbs-up of ‘Oh yeah, I like this idea, this makes sense.'”

The board’s next meeting is at 1 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 19.