St. Clairsville City Council Approves National Road Bikeway Tunnel Updates
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St. Clairsville City Council members unanimously approved the National Road Bikeway Tunnel and the National Road Bikeway Bridge rehabilitation project during their meeting Monday night.
The project includes replacing a retaining wall, constructing a trailhead and adding a parking lot along the trail.
Other updates are the resurfacing of the trail, which will include pavement planning and pavement repairs. Curb drain sidewalk and curb ramps will be also repaired and resurfaced.
In addition, signage at the tunnel and bridge will be upgraded along with landscaping performed in the area.
St. Clairsville Service Director Jeremy Greenwood said he anticipates the city will spend $480,000, while the Ohio Department of Transportation Local Public Agencies has a $569,279 share in the project.
Council members also unanimously approved an ordinance to reprint the St. Clairsville codified ordinances in accordance with Ohio Revised Code during the meeting.
Council President Jim Velas explained that St. Clairsville is required to make changes to their ordinances "every year." These changes occur because the city's ordinances are based on Ohio Revised Code, so if the ORC's ordinances change, the city council must also change its ordinances.
While looking over the ordinance changes, First Ward Councilman Don Vincenzo questioned the language of one ordinance that forbade leaving "junk vehicles on public or private property without permission." He explained he thought the ordinance was being violated as he has noticed the city "has some junk vehicles in yards."
Velas responded that the code was based on the ORC, so the code "has to be written that way."
"If someone feels that the ordinance is not being followed or people are violating it, then you have to report it," said Velas.
Law Director Joe Vavra added that the council "already had a section for that (vehicles in junk yards) on the books." He explained that they were just changing the wording of the existing ordinance to match ORC.
Vincenzo then questioned how fast the ordinance change needed to be approved, with Greenwood responding "the faster the better."
"What could happen if this doesn't pass if, in theory, the police could issue a ticket to somebody whose lawyer then gets involved and says, 'Well, your ordinance doesn't match with the ORC and you should have updated it,'" outlined Greenwood. "That's one reason this needs to go through so that it's in the law and there are no conceptual issues."
After the ordinance changes were passed, Velas explained city council members will need to submit their ordinance books to Council Clerk Jacob Bertrand for him to get them updated "as soon as possible."