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LISBON -- The Columbiana County Park District Board voted Monday to go forward with the process to acquire the popular rock climbing cliffs from the village of Lisbon.
Park commissioners agreed to the idea of entering a memorandum of understanding with the Western Reserve Land Conservancy to start the process for the transfer of 41 acres from the village to the park district.
Lisbon village council had already agreed in November to proceed with the sale in a 3-3 tie vote broken when Lisbon Mayor Peter Wilson cast the vote needed for the measure to pass. The idea was the county land bank would act as agent for the village and sell the property to the WRLC, which would then turn the property over to the county park district, at no cost to the park district.
The WRLC made a formal offer of $9,500 per acre at a previous council meeting, for a total of nearly $390,000 with the understanding it would take a couple of years to raise the funds for the purchase. The village planned to do some title work to continue the process, but then the park district board members changed and the most previous board balked a little at taking over the cliffs.
Those former members were leery of taking over the property over concerns with the maintenance and wanted to speak with someone from the WRLC to ask questions, but the meeting never happened, then the board members resigned and a whole new board was sworn in.
The new board has two previous board members who had been involved with the acquisition of the area known now as the Logtown Stone Quarry Park, which is next to the climbing cliffs owned by Lisbon.
The park board originally thought the popular climbing cliffs were part of that purchase, but then learned that section was owned by the village. Current Board Chairman Tom Butch and Vice Chairman Eileen Dray-Bardon had started talking about trying to acquire the cliffs, but then they resigned and other board members this past winter and spring talked about it, but had not met with the WRLC.
In the meantime, the village of Lisbon stopped the process dealing with the deed work pending a decision by the park district.
That day has now come under the new board, with Butch, Dray-Bardon and fellow commissioners Kevin Todd, Neal Bayless and Linda Linebaugh.
"We're here trying to solidify that access," WRLC Southeast Field Director Jacob D. Pries said regarding the historic climbing cliffs.
He said the WRLC can't own anything itself, but works with park districts to acquire land and conservation easements and apply for the funding through grants. He said the biggest obligation for the park district in this case is to own the property.
Butch said the property is all wooded except for the cliffs area and the Ohio Climbers Coalition has been doing the maintenance for years.
"There's really no maintenance for us," Butch said.
Bayless asked about the unwritten agreement with the Ohio Climbers Coalition and whether it could be in writing, with Ohio Climbers Coalition member Norm Swann, who was in attendance, saying they could draft a written agreement.
The next step will be for the memorandum of understanding with WRLC to be drafted for the park district to approve at the next meeting for the WRLC to make the purchase.
During the village council meeting Tuesday night, the mayor talked about what happened at the county park district meeting, which he attended, regarding the climbing cliffs, updating council on the interest by the new board to acquire the cliffs.
"I think it would be a good move for Lisbon, a win/win for everybody," he said.
In other business, Butch updated board members on two grants for maintaining the trail, with $1.2 million from the Transportation Alternatives Program through the Ohio Department of Transportation and $500,000 from the state from the capital fund, noting they're now going to combine the efforts into one big project for repaving sections of the Little Beaver Creek Greenway Trail, and other work on the trail, including replacing a culvert to make it larger under U.S. Route 30 in Lisbon and some bridge work in the wetlands area between Leetonia and Franklin Square. Butch said construction won't be until spring 2028.
Bayless asked the status of an opinion the board was seeking from the prosecutor's office over a possible conflict with a member of the board being on the Friends of the Park. Butch is the only board member on the Friends of the Park, a non-profit which raises funds to help the park district. A written opinion had not been received as of the meeting, but the indication was that if anything regarding the Friends of the Park comes up at the park district board meeting, Butch should abstain. Todd said he should probably do the same at the Friends of the Park meetings. Next month, the board will consider a conflict of interest form that board members can fill out for any potential conflicts.
mgreier@mojonews.com