Officials OK plans for Cortland park area

Lots of parks are planned for the area east of Mosquito Lake.
By STEPHEN SIFF
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
CORTLAND -- Behind the gardens, woods and walking trails on the grounds of the 17-acre Trumbull County Agriculture and Family Education Center will be another set of woods and walking trails, if all the plans for this corner of Cortland come to fruition.
Officials will break ground next Tuesday on a $1.26 million office building north of West Main Street for five agriculture-related agencies, including the Ohio State University Extension Service and the Trumbull County Soil and Water Conservation District.
On Tuesday, Trumbull County commissioners tentatively approved plans for the rest of the property, including a pavilion area to stage tours and classes for children, several plots where agencies can demonstrate farming techniques, a swamp and several wooded lots.
Looping walking trails through the grounds would connect to trails at the neighboring Mosquito Lake State Park and to a parking lot at Delphi Packard next door.
Land donated: Delphi donated the land for the agricultural center to Trumbull County last year.
"We are going to get grants to fund all of this," said John Knapp, district conservationist at the U.S. Department of Agriculture office which will be housed in the building.
Meanwhile, the Trumbull County Planning Commission is requesting $2.2 million from the state's biennial budget to develop another plot of land immediately north of the agricultural center into an environmental education center for schoolchildren, to be run by the Trumbull County Educational Services Center.
Using funds: The money would pay for walking trails and a building, as well as an access road through the agricultural center property, said Trish Nuskievicz of the planning commission. There is no access to the property, owned by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, right now.
"Because of the economy and everything that has been going on, we would be lucky to get a part of that money," she said.
The environmental education center is planned for only a portion ODNR's 140-acre property. For years, Cortland Mayor Melissa Long has had her eyes on the eastern part of the land for a park with ball fields and facilities for other kinds of "active recreation."
"It is all contingent on the grant money," she said.