PERRYSBURG — A new bike skills park is poised to open by the end of the month, and cyclists can’t wait to
get on the track.
At Tuesday’s Wood County Park District board meeting, held at W.W. Knight Preserve, Director Neil Munger
said social media has been bustling with bike park anticipation.
The park, which is located in Rudolph, just off the Slippery Elm Trail, should be open in about two
weeks.
Due to coronavirus, there can’t be a grand opening, but Munger said there are no thoughts about keeping
the area closed until the pandemic is over.
“It’s really getting a lot of excitement,” he said. “It’s going to be impossible to keep people off of
it.”
The plan is to have four different skills courses at the park, which is located at 14045 Mermill Road,
with levels ranging from beginner to advanced. The bike park will include a parking lot on the north
side, with drive access off Mermill Road. It will have 20 parking spaces and direct access to the
Slippery Elm Trail.
The district also had to delay a grand opening for the new interpretive center at Sawyer Quarry in
Perrysburg, which was finished earlier this year.
“Again, we have to wait for the proper conditions,” Munger said.
Improvements to Otsego overlook and W.W. Knight’s boardwalk are planned in the park district’s 2021
capital improvement budget, which was discussed Tuesday.
Munger reviewed the tentative list with the board:
• W.W. Knight, redoing the LOONA and classroom displays, $20,000, and completing phase II of the
boardwalk replacement, $5,000.
“It’s starting to really show its age,” Munger said.
• Otsego Park, making the overlook display a more interpretive area, $8,000, and repairing the rear
stairs, cost currently unknown.
• Reuthinger Preserve, Northwood, installing a new entrance ramp for $80,000, and doing a building
expansion for office space and programming, cost currently unknown.
The entrance ramp will be paid for with Ohio Department of Transportation park district roadway funds,
Munger said.
• William Henry Harrison in Pemberville, park police office renovations to the existing house on the
property, $3,000.
• Headquarters on Mercer Road, replacing a gas furnace in the construction shop, $3,000, and installing a
water treatment system, $3,500.
• Wood County Historical Center, creating an elevated archery range shooting platform, $30,000.
• Zimmerman School, running electric so a sump pump can be installed, cost currently unknown.
• Slippery Elm Trail, pavement repairs, $2,000. Munger said there are some issues with tree roots in this
area and it will be trenched in the fall and spring, before it is paved.
• Baldwin Woods, Weston, installing a new park entrance sign, $2,500; concrete floor in pole barn,
$8,000; and information kiosk, $2,000.
• Carter Historic Farm, installing fencing around fields, $10,800; concrete floor in new barn, $3,000;
and a new well, $4,600. There are also plans to paint the barn and house, $1,000.
• Bradner Preserve, repairing the shed next to the pond, $3,000.
Munger said that the board always stays under budget with capital projects and prioritizes.
“Right now, I think we’re in really good shape,” he said.
Also at the meeting, the board:
• Approved spending $11,899 for InTech IT Solutions, Bowling Green, to upgrade the video security systems
at Otsego and W.W. Knight.
• Voted to spend $7,597 for a disc mower from Wood County Implement.
• Reappointed Frank Butwin to the Wood County Historical Center Board of Directors. The park board has
two appointees; the other is Corrine Gordon, an employee who oversees Carter Historic Farm.
Board member Bill Cameron was absent.
