TRUSTEES MEETING Board reveals park plan

The park will be ready by fall 2005.
By JOHN W. GOODWIN JR.
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
POLAND -- Plans for the new township park on Cowden Road have been ironed out.
Park board members Mike Heher and Tom Sutcliffe said residents will be able to use the park by fall 2005. The park is being completed in phases.
The park area is being constructed on 70 acres at the corner of Moore and Cowden roads which the township is leasing from Browning-Ferris Industries for $1 per year as part of an agreement for a landfill operated by BFI in the township.
According to Sutcliffe, one of the first sections to be completed in the park will be a Kids Town play area in the middle of the park grounds. A variety of youth activities, such as sand volleyball, are planned for the area.
Soccer fields
Heher said crews are now in the process of leveling a large hill-filled area in the southeast section of the park. When it is completed, the area will include six play fields for flag football and soccer for kids of varying ages.
Heher said the park board decided to include soccer and flag football fields in the first phase, based on need. He said some of the fields being used by soccer and flag football players are owned by the school district and may be needed for other uses.
Plans in the first phase also call for parking spaces for 400 to 500 cars. Heher said the number of parking spaces was determined by the number of township youths involved in soccer and flag football.
Heher said there is plenty of useable space for youth baseball in the township, but space for open baseball fields is available in the park, and those fields will likely be added in the second phase of construction. He said a list of other activities will be added to the park in the coming years also.
Playing fields
The plans shown to trustees Tuesday also include four small playing fields in the northeast section of the park.
Of the 70 available acres, 29 are being developed. The remaining space will be used for walking trails. Plans call for more than two miles of walking trails running through the park.
jgoodwin@vindy.com