May is Bike Month

Spring has come and it’s time to spin our wheels! A bicycle is a powerful commuting vehicle for many people. You can increase your range when you combine a bike and a TARTA bus. With a little practice and experience you can leave the car at home for a few days a week. The advantages are huge: save gas and other car costs, get healthy exercise, learn your town and neighborhood in a new way. This month is good time to try it with lots of opportunities to get out on your bike.

Is your bike a little rusty? See the area bike shops for an ABC Quick Check. Then join a group ride, bike to work or school. Have fun and remember to bike to the right, and go with the flow of traffic.

This calendar includes lots of events in May including rides offered by local clubs. Most of the club rides are for people of all abilities but read the description to see speed and length of ride. Arrange your own ride: see a map (PDF) of the many bicycle facilities in Lucas and Wood counties. Toledo Bikes! Is a nonprofit bike co-op where you can help young people fix up a bike that they can use, you can learn to repair your own bike, and you can ride your bike to their shop and watch a movie!

Stormwater Management in Urban Revitalization

The TMACOG Environmental Planning department has been awarded a grant to plan for green infrastructure in urban parts of our region. The grant, awarded by the Ohio Lake Erie Commission, funds a project that will assist the Lucas County Land Reutilization Corporation (the Land Bank). The Land Bank works to return foreclosed and vacant properties to productive use in the community. TMACOG will use GIS analysis to identify and prioritize those properties where green stormwater infrastructure best management practices would be most effective.

In tightly built urban areas, adding new stormwater management infrastructure can be a challenge. But where structures are being demolished in an older neighborhood, there is potential to introduce modern stormwater management while also increasing green space and recreational areas for residents. TMACOG will develop a GIS inventory of suitable vacant land sites for green infrastructure and build a decision model for prioritizing vacant land reuse. Site selection involves ranking vacant sites based on an analysis of soil, floodplain, flooding frequency, existing infrastructure, land use, lot size, previous lot use, and water quality impairment data. Other data points that rank possible projects include the availability of neighborhood groups to maintain best management practices, and infrastructure that may be already planned for the area. TMACOG will be working with the Green Infrastructure Task Force, a committee of the Lucas County Sustainability Commission. Examples of small-scale green infrastructure include rain gardens and bioswales.

“The grant integrates well with work already underway in the Land Bank and with the Sustainability Commission,” said TMACOG planner Kari Gerwin. “By identifying green infrastructure sites before demolition, the project team will ensure that the site is graded properly at the earliest stage, saving money and increasing the likelihood of a successful installation.” Opportunities will be on both public and private land. As part of the grant, TMACOG and its partners will create a demonstration site that will be a proof of concept example. Gerwin said, “When neighbors, funding agencies, and builders can see the feasibility and cost-effectiveness of small-scale green infrastructure, they can appreciate how vacant land can be re-purposed to reduce flooding, manage stormwater, and provide attractive space for residents.”    

The project began in April and will be complete in the spring of 2015. 

Toledo Metropolitan Area Council of Governments | www.tmacog.org

Regional Fire Service Consortium

Fire departments in Northwest Ohio are invited to join the Regional Fire Service Consortium at Owens Community College for a 12-month program of training classes. The partnership has been developed to address the professional fire service training requirements in Northwest Ohio in an affordable and timely manner. “Owens College is committed to the highest standards of public safety and is offering this training opportunity at its Center of Emergency Preparedness in accordance with NFPA standards,” said Dr. Brian Paskvan, executive director of Owens Community College’s Workforce and Community Services.

Membership in the Regional Fire Service Consortium allows agencies to send their firefighters to any of the monthly training sessions. Topics include:

·         Mass casualty/triage

·         Tanker truck fires

·         Search and rescue

·         Live-fire training

The cost of membership is based on department station size. An agency with one station becomes a member with an annual $500 fee and up to four people per class, those with two or three stations pay $1,000, eight people per class, and those with four or more stations pay $1,500, with 12 people per class. Classes are open to non-members for a fee on a space available basis at $100 per person/class.

Enrollment deadline is June 1. Payment deadline will reflect timing of departments to allow for budgets updates. For more information on the program and to review the complete list of training sessions, contact Deb Pratt or Mark Briggs at Owens Community College: 567-661-2411.  

Toledo Metropolitan Area Council of Governments | www.tmacog.org

Governments Protect Lake Erie Drinking Water from Algae

A special session of the Environmental Council was held Thursday, January 23 on the topic of algae and Lake Erie. The program was particularly directed toward elected officials and operators of water intakes and treatment plants.

In the summer of 2013, operators of the water treatment system in Ottawa County’s Carroll Township temporarily shut down because of algae. In Toledo, water treatment plant operators needed a budget increase of $1 million to pay for chemicals required to address algae in the water supply.

Lake Erie is the source of drinking water for hundreds of thousands of residents in Fulton, Lucas, Monroe, Ottawa, and Wood counties. Industry also relies on safe water.  The Environmental Council program described actions that have been taken to protect the public from toxins and offered projections of what will be needed to assure safe water supplies in the future. The program included presentations from operators of the four largest water systems in the western Lake Erie region: the cities of Toledo, Monroe and Oregon, and Ottawa County.

The EPA does not mandate that water treatment plants test for microcystis. The plant operators began to test on their own several years ago when they became concerned about visible algae. The World Health Organization recommends that drinking water contain no more than 1.0 parts per billion and that is the figure that they use as a benchmark. Kelly Frey of the Ottawa County plant noted that microcystis is toxic, more toxic than cyanide. The operators noted that their expertise is water treatment, not health decisions. Frey said that while the plants are managing to contain the toxin now, the effort is “very concerning” and that he and fellow water treatment plant managers are “so fearful” that toxin from the bacteria could prove dangerous to the people who drink water from their facilities. All four of the water treatment experts on the panels said that the control of phosphorus runoff is the first step to reducing algae blooms. Phosphorus reaches the lake through fertilizers used in agriculture, on golf courses, and, it was suggested by one attendee, from large confined animal feeding operations. 

Toledo Metropolitan Area Council of Governments | www.tmacog.org

TMACOG Mentors Transportation Planning

TMACOG works closely with other Councils of Government throughout Ohio and coordinates many transportation efforts with the Southeast Michigan Council of Government (SEMCOG). Now, with a new mentoring program, TMACOG is partnering with the Maumee Valley Planning Organization (MVPO) in western Ohio.

Transportation planning for larger population areas in Ohio is done by Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPOs) like TMACOG. An MPO coordinates plans throughout the region, building a well-integrated, multimodal system that serves residents and industry.  The current federal transportation bill, MAP-21, includes a recommendation to build transportation planning expertise in more rural regions and areas where the population is less concentrated. In Ohio, ODOT has organized a mentorship program that pairs TMACOG with MVPO. Western Ohio’s MVPO includes the counties of Defiance, Fulton, Henry, Paulding and Williams, and the cities of Bryan, Napoleon, and Defiance.

TMACOG Senior Planner Janet Arcuicci is partnered with MVPO Transportation Planner Ellen Barry.  Both TMACOG and MVPO are in the early stages of developing their long range transportation plans.  MVPO has completed a transportation option survey to assist in their initial planning efforts. The needs analysis, which is comprised of current infrastructure conditions, is almost complete. On February 6, TMACOG will meet at the MVPO offices to provide technical assistance regarding Geographic Information Systems (GIS) data collection and analysis. In the coming months, TMACOG and MVPO will continue to work together to improve transportation planning in the wider region. 

New TMACOG Leadership Elected

At the annual General Assembly of TMACOG members held Tuesday, January 29, 2014, TMACOG members endorsed the nomination of officers. Elected for a 12-month term are:

James M. Sass, chair of TMACOG and president of Ottawa County commissioners

Angela J. Kuhn, vice chair of TMACOG and mayor of the Village of Whitehouse

They replace Carol Contrada, outgoing chair of TMACOG and president of Lucas County Commissioners; Nelson Evans, outgoing vice chair of TMACOG and retired Mayor of Perrysburg, and Don Nalley, outgoing second vice chair and former council member, City of Fremont. The position of second vice chair was eliminated in a bylaw change.

TMACOG President Tony Reams, Vice Chair Angela Kuhn, and Chair Jim Sass.

Construction Summary and Forecast

Northwest Ohio saw a very busy road construction year in 2013 and the completion of several large-scale projects in our region. A few of the major projects completed last year include:

·         Phase 1 of the I-75/I-475 systems interchange in downtown Toledo

·         Complete repaving of the busiest part of Secor Rd. in Toledo

·         Complete repaving of Main St. in Bowling Green

·         Construction of the Wales Rd. grade separation in Northwood

·         A new roundabout at Sylvania/Mitchaw in western Lucas County

·         I-475 safety projects on ramps at both Corey Rd. and Talmadge Rd.

The list of projects for 2014 is now taking shape. Some that will have a significant impact on regional travel include:

·         Grade separation at McCord Rd. in Sylvania Township/Holland

·         I-75 widening in Wood County from Devil’s Hole Rd. in Middleton Township south into Hancock County

·         Rehabilitation of I-75 from Central Ave. to Dorr St. in Toledo

·         Ramp reconfiguration at the US 23/I-475 systems interchange in Sylvania Township

·         Re-decking and repair of the Anthony Wayne Bridge. ODOT estimates that the bridge will be closed for 19 months. This link has more details.

Toledo Metropolitan Area Council of Governments | www.tmacog.org