Park development to have sled-riding hill

STAFF REPORT

CORTLAND — The Trumbull County Planning Commission is hoping that a new approach to developing state park land on the east side of Mosquito Lake just north of the Lake Vista retirement community will produce a two-acre park with a sled-riding hill.

Trish Nuskievicz, assistant planning director, said she met with the Ohio Department of Natural Resources and Army Corps of Engineers recently to discuss the project, which would also be done in cooperation with Cortland.

The project would require only the construction of a road, parking area and a hill for sled riding, she said. Additional phases could be added later.

A grant from the state would probably be needed to pay for the work, but Nuskievicz said she thinks it’s doable because the planning commission and state have a good working relationship, and this plan is more modest than some previous ones.

Cortland tried to develop the same land into athletic facilities, a boardwalk and a community center in the 2001 to 2004 time frame, but the proposals were too large, Nuskievicz said.

More recently, officials investigated the idea of building a $35 million lodge and water park in the area, but the ODNR felt that such a lodge would detract from the existing Punderson and Geneva lodges.

Nuskievicz said planners have referred to proposals for the land as “Eastlake” because it is on the east side of the lake and added the word “MetroPark” because it is likely the park would become part of the Trumbull County MetroParks system.