Engineering work OK'd for Whitehouse trail

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Whitehouse council has approved engineering work on the new Nona France Trail.

The 4,800-foot, multiuse trail would connect the South branch of the Wabash Cannonball Trail and Whitehouse's Village Park to the Nona France Recreation Area and Blue Creek Conservation Area.

It would end at the parking lot being built by the Anthony Wayne Youth Foundation, which manages youth recreation programs on part of the Blue Creek Conservation Area near Whitehouse.

Whitehouse received a $333,000 Transportation Improvement Program grant from the Toledo Metropolitan Area Council of Governments. The project will be managed by the Ohio Department of Transportation.

Construction will get under way in 2012, Village Administrator Jordan D. Daugherty said.

Meanwhile, the village is completing work on a depot-styled rest room downtown near the Wabash Cannonball Trail. A depot used to be there along the same rail line, he said.

A community development block grant is covering the $120,000 cost, he said. The village received a total of $400,000 in Community Development Block Grant money with a portion to help downtown business owners make improvements.

The facility will have men's and women's rest- rooms, and it will be heated and available for special events throughout the year, he said. Completion is expected by Aug. 15.

The trail and the village's nearby park are increasingly becoming a focal point for community activities, he said.

Whitehouse residents indicated during a community survey that they wanted to see more activities in the park and the downtown.

This summer, a farmers market is situated in the area. The Whitehouse Farmers Market is open from 8 a.m. to noon on Saturdays now through Sept. 25. The market is a satellite of the Toledo Farmers Market.