Park district eyes big things for former HC landfill

With hiking, mountain biking, horseback riding, bird watching and more on tap for the land that formerly occupied the Holmes County Landfill, it’s easy to see why the Holmes County Park District, Holmes County Board of Commissioners and many others are excited about the possibilities in the renovation process that has beautified the land and transformed it into a natural mecca for nature lovers.

Recently, Jen Halverson, Holmes County Park District director, met with the commissioners to discuss the progress being made as the HCPD continues its efforts to revitalize the property to the point where it will be open for the public to enjoy.

According to Halverson, they continue to make strides, and the board is excited about the near future for when they will open trails to the public.

“We’ve been working with some different groups to get out there and get some ideas as to where we’d like to see the trails go,” Halverson said in presenting a color-coded map to the commissioners denoting the distinct trails for those on bikes or horseback and for hikers. “Each of the three trails will be dedicated to one specific usage, and while there will be trails that intersect with one another at various spots, we will work signage into those spots.

“Thus, we won’t have horses on a trail with mountain bikes or mountain bikes traveling the same trail as a family hiking.”

She said none of the trails are located on top of the cap of the former landfill, which continues to be monitored and will be monitored for several years by the Environmental Protection Agency.

She said the parking lot for the trails will be located where the old trailers were formerly, and part of that lot is complete. In addition, she said there could eventually be a parking lot closer to the gate area at the entrance to the land, which would provide easier access for trailers hauling horses.

A gate has been installed near the current parking lot to make sure vehicles don’t travel further up the hill toward the cap.

Commissioner Joe Miller said ideally it would be nice to work something out with the EPA that would allow a single trail to progress to the top of the hill where the cap is now covered and grass is growing because it provides a view from which people can see just about every direction of Holmes County.

“In our conversations I think we would be allowed to do foot traffic up the one side, but just human traffic,” Halverson said.

Because the cap protects the landfill waste beneath it, no structures can currently be built atop the cap space.

Halverson said the park district’s goal during the latter part of summer through fall and into winter will be to make same major strides in preparing the land for public use.

“I’ve got lists of all of these public interest groups who are interested in using the land,” Halverson said, “mountain biking, birding, hiking, horseback riders, astrology groups and more. There are so many possibilities, and there’s an incredible amount of natural beauty there to enjoy.”

She said another reason to keep the cap fairly unoccupied is because of the nesting there, and nobody wants to see those nests disturbed.

The park district continues to be the group in charge of maintaining the land and designing the outlay so it best provides everything the public wants to see in a natural area for many different activities.

Halverson said the current plan is to create the trails out of crushed limestone, with paving a possibility down the road. She said they also are in discussion about planting some additional trees, and the hope is they can complete these projects with the funding they have secured.

She said volunteer workers would play a significant role in making this new green space project a reality.

“We have some big ideas, and a lot of people are really excited about the possibilities with that property,” Halverson said.

The group then discussed the idea of renaming the former landfill, and Halverson said that was something they would delve into in the near future, but currently, they are focused more on the actual construction process.

She went on to talk about the ongoing effort to connect the Glenmont to Killbuck portion of Holmes County Rails-to-Trails.

She said the trail from Glenmont to state Route 520 is currently about half of the project and that is the next phase of construction. She said they are awaiting Ohio Department of Transportation’s final approval on the plan and then they will advertise and sell that project, something she said will take place before the end of the year.

“The majority of work will be done in 2024,” Halverson said.

She said they recently received full construction funding for the final phase from Glenmont back to Killbuck, a project slated at $4.2 million. She said ODOT has slated work on that phase of the trail to take place in 2026, noting it would actually begin in July 2025.

“We have roughly about 30% of the plans done on that side,” Halverson said.