Cortland winter-recreation upgrade planned

STAFF REPORT

CORTLAND — Recent meetings involving the city of Cortland, Trumbull County MetroParks board and the Ohio Department of Natural Resources leave MetroParks board member Mike Wilson feeling confident that there will be a new sled-riding hill and skating pond in Cortland by next winter.

Don Wittman, Cortland’s service director, says he’s not so sure the work can be done that soon, but he agrees that a proposal to use the 55 acres as park land is coming together.

The park would be located on land just north of the Lake Vista retirement community on the east side of Mosquito Lake along state Route 46.

Wilson said moving dirt from the site to create the hill will make it possible to create a natural ice-skating area.

Trish Nuskievicz of the Trumbull County Planning Commission has said only about two acres would be used for the sledding hill. The rest would be used for passive recreation such as hiking, she said.

A dirt walking trail called Turkey Run is on the land now, Wittman said.

The first step is to get permission from ODNR to begin to survey the land, Wittman said. Then a plan will be put together to determine what are the best uses, he said. A sled-riding hill, roads, parking and skating pond are likely in the first phase, Wittman said, with other phases to follow.

About 10 years ago, Cortland proposed turning the land into athletic facilities and a boardwalk, but there were concerns about the expense of maintaining such a facility, Wittman said.

More recently, county officials investigated building a $35 million lodge and water park on and around the 55-acre area, but ODNR thought that the lodge would detract from the existing Punderson and Geneva lodges, Nuskievicz said.

ODNR owns most of the land, though the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers owns some of the land closest to the lake, Wittman said.

Eventually, Wittman and Wilson said, Cortland and county officials are hoping that ODNR will lease the land to the county for 25 to 50 years for as little as $1.