WYOMING — City Council members spent more than an hour during their meeting discussing an item that wasn't even on the agenda — a hiking/biking trail.

        Several citizens presented a petition during the public comment period Monday outlining their concerns about proposed changes to downtown.

        The hike/bike trail would connect Wyoming's central business district with the city's recreation facility less than a mile away, and perhaps ultimately with Glenwood Park in Woodlawn. Construction of the paved trail, estimated to cost about $1.1 million, would come from state recreation and federal transportation grants.

        “A number of people in the community think it would be wonderful,” said council member Stan Streeter. “Some people have concerns about the routing. We have tried to work with them and come up with a route that satisfies them.”

        The trail would roughly parallel Mill Creek west of the Wyoming-Lockland boundary. At a meeting with the public Feb. 28, the task force working on the trail proposal revealed that bike trail construction would involve blocking one end of Van Roberts Place next to the central business district and turning it into a parking lot. Four homes would be removed.

        Worries about the fate of their property and quality of life were clearly on neighbors' minds as they addressed council. One speaker said a bike path would bring more litter, traffic and noise. She was also apprehensive about possible loitering and littering in the new parking lot.

        “When the businesses close down in the evening, who's going to watch that parking lot?” asked Anna White, who lives on Van Roberts Place. “We believe these plans you have in mind put a negative impact on our lives.”

        “The neighbors that live in Van Roberts Place are not going to roll over and play dead,” said resident Marilyn Huffman. “I am one of many residents who have spent money improving our homes.”

        “This issue is not yet before City Council. It's very much still an issue under discussion,” said Mayor David Savage. “We will pass this petition along to the task force.”

        “It makes it feel to me like we're shoving something down somebody's throat, when the people it's supposed to help object to it,” said council member Scott Kadish.

        Council members agreed to add at least one representative of the neighborhoods in question to the task force as it considers public input and finishes the proposal.

        The final task force session, which is open to the public, takes place at 6:30 p.m. April 2 at the Wyoming Municipal Building, 800 Oak Ave.

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