Ethan Harris, Land Bank executive director, said it’s “really exciting” to break ground on the project.
“What has been even more encouraging are all the phone calls we have been getting from neighbors expressing their excitement and gratitude for the park. It makes things real when you see construction going vertical. We hope that once people see the project going vertical they will want to get involved and help bring the full project to fruition,” he said.
The new park development, a collaboration with the Land Bank, Clark County Park District and community stakeholders, is over half an acre of land that’s anticipated to be ADA accessible with a basketball and pickleball courts, playground and play equipment, and swing sets.
Phase one will include the pickleball and basketball courts, which should be finished by mid-winter, and drinking fountain, Harris said.
The Land Bank allocated $500,000 toward the new park at 504 W. Euclid Ave. This is the site of the former Euclid Elements building, which caught fire in 2016 and was demolished in 2018.
The goal is to raise an additional $750,000, to bring the total to $1,250,000. Harris said raising funds has been slow but is encouraged by the conversations being had with potential donors and grantors. They’ve raised $20,000 towards the goal so far.
This amount doesn’t include phase one that’s coming in at $200,000, in which the city of Springfield provided the bulk of funding with $150,000 and Land Bank picked up the remaining $50,000 cost, Harris said.
Harris added many state and local grants open in the next month that the land bank will be applying for, and would appreciate any testimonials and words of support be emailed or mailed to them to be included in their grant applications.
Once the park is built, it will be donated to the Clark County Park District.
In addition to the park, there will be two affordable housing developments — Apartments will be built at the site of the current sunflower field on West Euclid and 10 single-family, 1,300 square foot homes with three bedrooms and two bathrooms will be built at the land next to that.
Harris said they’re in the procurement phase for the homes on the block between Southern and Grand avenues, in which they just finished clearing and preparing the site.
“Now that we are getting into the harsher weather months, the projects will be somewhat weather dependent, but we plan to continue going vertical with home builds through the winter,” he said.
Before the Engaged Neighborhood project, the Land Bank was working along the bike path, then called “Project Path.” About seven or eight years ago, a traffic study was done and showed that two-thirds of everyone that parked in the lot for the bike path south of town that crosses over Dayton Yellow Springs Road were going south instead of coming north into Springfield.
The Land Bank took ownership of and demolished the blighted houses between Southern and Grand, plus the commercial building on the other side of the bike path at Southern and Grand.
The Land Bank is taking donations toward the park effort at https://givebutter.com/EuclidPark, or call Kara Van Zant at 937-521-2173.
About the Author
