HAMILTON — Despite initial concerns about public safety, Butler County commissioners on Thursday turned over property near the sheriff's firing range in Madison Township to the county park system for development of hiking trails and a nature preserve.

        The sheriff's department and West Chester Township police, who also use the firing range, fought the efforts of MetroParks of Butler County to use part of the county's 191 acres on Woodsdale Road.

        They said it was unsafe to have people walking in the vicinity of a firing range.

        But the commissioners say they think the firing range, located on 25 acres at the eastern end of the property, poses no danger to people using the hiking trails, which will be in the western portion.

        “There's not a safety issue,” Commissioner Chuck Furmon said. “We've tried to take every precaution we could to make it safe.”

        The hiking trails and nature preserve will be across the street from the historic Chrisholm farmstead, a 19th-century Amish farmstead that a nonprofit group is restoring.

        The sheriff's department has taken precautions to make the firing range safe, Maj. Anthony Dwyer said.

        High fences, dirt barriers and a large buffer zone between the hiking trails and the firing range should prevent any problems, he said.

        “Our range exceeds all state mandates for safety,” Maj. Dwyer said. “The potential for any kind of danger is greatly limited.”

        MetroParks will use a $114,000 state grant to help pay the $152,000 cost of developing the hiking trails and nature preserve.

        The project will be finished by end of the year, Mr. Muska said.

        The Friends of Chrisholm is restoring the 128-year-old farmstead.

        The group has restored the exterior, but needs $100,000 to complete the interior renovation.

        Despite the unfinished interior work, the farmstead will be open for visitors in May.

        The Friends of Chrisholm had joined MetroParks in battling the sheriff's department for the right to use the county property across the street from Chrisholm.

        “We're just really pleased that MetroParks can start to develop that property for recreational uses,” said Anne Jantzen, president of Friends of Chrisholm.

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