CHAUNCEY, Ohio — The Outdoor Recreation Council of Appalachia will begin construction of a visitors center for the Baileys Trail System in Chauncey once it receives the go-ahead from federal and state agencies. Executive Director Jessie Powers estimates that will occur this summer or fall.
Late last year, ORCA received a $3 million dollar grant administered by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources through the federal Abandoned Mine Land Economic Revitalization Program. The grant program funds projects that use former coal mining sites for economic development and environmental reclamation.
The Chauncey-Dover Park Trailhead and the future visitor center are atop a historical coal mine that was operated by the New York Coal Company until 1952. Powers said her great-grandfather worked in the mine until it closed.
The 5,000-square-foot visitors center will be built off West Bailey Road. Though planning is still underway, the center might house space for both Baileys Trail System operations and Chauncey entrepreneurs, Powers said.
“What we envision is a multipurpose space that enhances the visitor experience that also provides economic market access,” Powers said.
The Chauncey-Dover Park Trailhead has seen extensive development recently. This Saturday, May 20, the Village of Chauncey and the Baileys Trail System will host a ribbon-cutting ceremony and community celebration for the Chauncey Community Park at the Chauncey-Dover Park Trailhead from 2 to 5 p.m.
The Independent’s interview with Jessie Powers has been edited for length and clarity.
How did ORCA learn about this grant and what compelled you to apply for the funding?
Prior to this role, I worked as the Athens County planner and was part of a previous AMLER grant, which is nearing completion, with the Village of Chauncey. It supported the phase two Hockhocking Adena Bikeway extension [which extended the bike path to reach Chauncey], as well as developments at the [Chauncey Community] park which also doubles as a trailhead. So, I was familiar with that program and its requirements. I knew that we had this opportunity — because we are on abandoned mine land — to think creatively of how to redevelop that site to meet economic needs. And what we’ve seen in Chauncey with the Baileys Trail System is lots of excitement. But, there’s really limited access to the market. There’s a lot of barriers to starting a new business here. There isn’t any turnkey commercial space. If you wanted to rent space in Athens, that’s pretty easy to do, say, compared to here, you’d have to first build the space or redevelop an existing space to bring it to code. So we knew the opportunity to build that visitor center is a way to remove that barrier for business expansion and entrepreneurs, makers and producers to access the new market of visitors to Chauncey.
Will the $3 million grant cover the entire construction of the visitor center? Will there be a need to seek other funding for it as well?
The total price tag is around $3.8 million. We’re getting a $3 million grant, which is the maximum award, and then we have some committed other funds. For instance, OhioHealth has given us a $100,000 grant that will support this project. The Athens County Commissioners are providing $250,000 to match for the project. So we have enough funds committed to date to construct the facility. There are other improvements to the general site that we would like to make. And depending on the use of the inside of the facility, we might need to do a little more fundraising for that kind of thing, but we should have the funding coming in now for the full facility.
What is the current status of the visitor center project?
It’s still pending review with the Federal Office of Surface Mining and ODNR, which are working to develop the grant agreement. It will probably arrive sometime this summer or fall. But it’s a pretty lengthy process because these funds come from the federal government through the state government and then down to the local level.
Once you have the money in hand, what do you see as next steps?
Once we receive the grant agreement, we’ll start engaging the community. Once we have a little bit better idea of the site layout — see what’s possible and get our design under contract — I think that will probably be one of the things we would like to have before we do some in-depth community engagement, to see what exactly the needs and desires are.
