MONTVILLE – A new restaurant and microbrewery are planned in the clubhouse of the old Blue Heron Golf Course.

Montville Township Zoning Inspector Paul Jeffers told township trustees Nov. 28 plans for the new businesses were scheduled for review by the township zoning commission.

The expansive building already houses the Taste of Excellence party center that has been hosting wedding receptions and other events.

Jeffers said owner Bill Rini has now presented the township plans to remodel other sections of the building to include a brew house on the ground floor of the building, a pub on the second floor and a more formal dining room and restaurant on the third floor of the building, which had housed another restaurant prior to the township acquiring the adjacent golf course and converting it into a park.

Jeffers said Rini hopes to open the new restaurants by Mothers’ Day next spring if his renovation plans receive the approval of the township zoning board.

Jeffers said the stately mansion was originally constructed as a home with a 12-car garage before it became a clubhouse for the Blue Heron Golf Course. He also said renovation plans do not include vacant office space located between the event center and proposed brew house and restaurants.

“It looks like they did an amazing job with these plans,” said Township Trustee Sally Albrecht. “It looks like a beautiful facility and the combination of both formal and informal dining rooms should be attractive to people who use the park and want to stop afterwards for refreshments.”

Route 18 widening
Township trustees approved an agreement to cooperate with the Ohio Department of Transportation on an $18 million project to widen sections of state Route 18.

ODOT’s latest estimate is for the project to begin in April of 2019 and be completed in October 2020. The project will widen Route 18 to five lanes between Foote Road and River Styx Road and seven lanes from River Styx to Nettleton Road.

The project also includes the construction of a new 1,000-feet access road to be built in front of the Aldi Market and neighboring businesses that will connect to River Styx Road. In addition, a 10-feet wide bike and hike path will be built on the Montville side of Route 18.

The cooperation agreement with ODOT calls for the township to contribute $100,000 toward right-of-way acquisition and to assume maintenance responsibility for the new access road and bike path after they are completed.

However, the agreement also calls for ODOT to be responsible for major repairs to the bike path, a point in the agreement clarified after Montville Service Director Chris Kosman questioned that aspect in a preliminary draft of the agreement presented to Montville trustees.

LST bill
Montville trustees agreed to pay Medina Hospital $18,943 for 39 ambulance runs made into the township in September by the Life Support Team based at the hospital. Trustee Jeff Brandon reported that the township has been spending slightly less on ambulance service than it had budgeted for this year. The township had allocated about $205,000 for LST reimbursements through the first nine months of the year and has been billed for about $192,000 so far.

Meeting minutes
Township trustees voted to change its policy for posting meeting minutes on the township website. The new policy calls for removing old minutes from trustee and zoning commission meetings once a new set of minutes are posted on the web site. The new policy also applies to minutes from the Board of Zoning Appeals, but allows for two sets of BZA minutes to remain posted on the website instead of just one.

Fiscal Director Mary Pawlowski said minutes from earlier meetings will remain on file and be available to the public upon request and free of charge.