Brookfield trustees have hired a consultant to file an application with the Ohio Department of Transportation for funding to build a sidewalk on the north side of Warren Sharon Road between Route 7 and Yankee Run Golf Course.
Mannik Smith Group was hired May 4 for $6,900. The company was recommended by the Trumbull County Engineer’s Office, which arranged a Zoom meeting with trustees Shannon Devitz and Dan Suttles and Mannick Smith’s Pat Etchie, a certified planner and grant writer.
Up to $2 million could be awarded for sidewalk construction under ODOT’s Highway Safety Improvement Program, but the trustees do not expect to build a sidewalk from Route 7 to Yankee Run in one shot because of the 10 percent match required. Instead, they would build sections over a period of years.
“The funding’s not available until 2029,” Devitz said. “We have some time to save up.”
Trustee Mark Ferrara said it was important to him that Mannik Smith, if not successful on the first application submittal, would submit for the next round without charging the township. ODOT accepts applications twice a year, and the next round is due Aug. 31.
Matthew Chu, owner of Belly Buster Sub Shop at Warren Sharon Road and Route 7, thanked the trustees for investigating sidewalk construction.
“When I moved here five years ago, the first thing I asked the trustees was, ‘Can we please get sidewalks?’” he said. “I think this will significantly benefit the community. I see a significant portion of community members walking from the sub shop down to Mr. D’s, down to Sparkle. Even some kids from Valley View walk all the way up to the sub shop.”
Devitz has pushed for sidewalks to make Brookfield a walkable community and noted that the lack of sidewalks makes for dangerous situations with people walking on the road.
“It scares me in the wintertime, coming up that hill, there’s somebody in an electric wheelchair, in the roadway,” Suttles said. “That’s just an accident waiting to happen. We need to get the folks off the roadway. I think this is a good first step.”
Devitz said the information Mannik Smith generates could be used for other sidewalk funding applications.
