Tuscarawas County
Community Foundation Awards Grant
We received the letter from the Foundation on Friday August 8,
2008...They had selected our $5,400 project for funding. The project is
simple, but not entirely easy...restore electric service to the picnic shelter.
The old service had to be entirely removed when we demolished our building.
The new meter and box will be installed on the hill above the shelter, above the
flood level, and a new power line trenched downhill to the shelter. We
have been without electricity for 2 years, which has been a huge challenge to
overcome as we continued to clean up the demolition debris. Every time we
needed to power up a tool or illuminate the dark we had to either improvise on
the spot or do without.
With power we can start education programs again, host musical events and steak fry dinners, conduct night programs, and play host to an assortment of community events from family picnics to weddings to church services. While we are very happy to have received this grant from the Foundation, we are also very humbled to have been chosen. There are countless needs in our county that are all worthy of support, but there is never enough money to take care of all those needs.
American Electric Power and Schilling Electric have already begun work on the project and we hope to have it done in time for an October Celebration of our 10th Anniversary...We'll keep you posted.
EAP Finally Owns the Zoar Wetland Arboretum
March 23, 2007 was the day EAP paid off the remaining
mortgage of $65,000 on the Zoar Wetland in one lump sum. This was nine
years in the making and not a moment too soon. The wetland was purchased
from private owners on Feb 6, 1998 with the goal of transforming it into a
public park, education facility, and trailhead for the Ohio and Erie Canal
Towpath that eventually would make its way to Zoar.
The house we just demolished had two apartments that were rented, which provided enough income to pay the mortgage, upkeep, taxes, and insurance on the building. The rental income was the only income to pay for the land. But, the organization knew in 1998 that the house had to be demolished, it was just a matter of time.
In the years since 1998 the people on our Board of Directors and staff had entirely changed. New sources of income to pay the mortgage were researched, with not a single source available to us. With the demolition of our building (and complete loss of income) looming at the end of 2006 we had to take drastic action to save the land that we had worked so hard for.
Early in 2006, EAP made the heart-wrenching decision to sell another property we owned to have the money to pay off the mortgage. That property was the beloved Shoemaker Meadow that had been donated to the organization in 2001. We were allowing the 12-acre meadow, formerly a corn field, to naturalize back into a wildlife habitat.
The donor of the land gave her blessing to sell the meadow, but with certain restrictions on what could be done with it. We spent a year searching for the right person who would appreciate the spirit of the original donation, who would respect the natural wetland that was coming back on previously tiled farmland, who would not subdivide the property into another dreary allotment, who would allow EAP to continue the mission of restoring a wildlife habitat, and who would limit any future development to one single family home or to one family owned business. We finally found that person in January 2007. We closed the deal, again with the blessing of the original donor and final approval of our Board.
With the burden of an impossible mortgage gone, EAP can finally move forward with our dreams for the Zoar Wetland Arboretum. Check back often to see how we are doing...
Picnic Shelter Spared From Demolition
We received the good news right before Thanksgiving 2006...we
could keep the roof over the picnic shelter, and even make it bigger if we
wanted to. The news was a huge relief because EAP and hundreds of visitors
to the wetland had fought to keep it. Initially, we had been told the
entire structure, including the shelter, had to be demolished down to the cement
slab. EAP did some homework to find the regulations that allowed our type
of shelter in a flood plain, and more than 200 people who visited our wetland in
2005 signed a petition telling the Corps how important the shelter was to their
visit.
We put together a package of information that proved our shelter met the criteria for an allowed structure. The package also included letters of support from the Zoar Village Council, Hennis Care Center of Dover (on behalf of people with limited abilities), and Sandy Tusing (as a disabled visitor to our wetland). These letters conveyed the importance of having a covered shelter easily accessible for all people.
Our petition was reviewed by the District office in Huntington West Virginia and determined to meet the criteria. They granted EAP an easement to keep the shelter intact. We want to thank all the people who had a part in saving our shelter. There were many working behind the scenes to make connections and offer support if needed, including Congressman Ralph Regula. We also thank the Corps of Engineers for giving us a fair hearing and granting our request.