Improvements at Mill Creek Lily Pond near completion
YOUNGSTOWN
Beginning next month, visitors to Mill Creek MetroParks’ Lily Pond will have several new vantage points from which to experience the site that is among the park district’s most-visited.
Construction work, which began in October, is nearly complete on more than $250,000 worth of upgrades to the Lily Pond area. The area remains off-limits to the public until further notice from the park, likely in mid-January.
The project adds an “arrival plaza” – featuring an information kiosk, drinking fountain, benches and trash receptacles – at the southern end of the pond, near the parking lot. The welcome area then leads to a new boardwalk and observation deck that overlooks the pond. Improvements to the encircling trail also were made, and a “floating” boardwalk that extends over the water has been added to the opposite end of the Lily Pond.
The primary purpose of the project, park officials say, is to improve accessibility.
“For all these years, the pond hasn’t truly been accessible to everyone,” said Steve Avery, park planning and natural resources director, noting that conditions previously were not conducive to wheelchair or stroller use.
Park officials also believe the additions will improve visitors’ experience. Noting that many generations of Mahoning Valley residents have created a tradition of visiting the pond with family members and friends, Avery said, “This will continue that experience.”
The project largely was funded by donations. The Hine Memorial Fund of the Youngstown Foundation contributed $120,000 toward the observation deck and boardwalk; the J. Ford Crandall Memorial Foundation contributed $25,000 toward the cost of the arrival plaza; $10,000 for an observation deck over the adjacent “Frog Pond” came from the Thomases Family Endowment; and money raised at a 2013 park fundraiser provided $11,629, among other donations.
The park paid $95,000 out of its 2014 budget for the project.
The project originally was scheduled to be complete Dec. 27, but that date has been pushed back to sometime in January due to rainy weather that prevented work immediately before the holidays.
Park officials stressed that members of the public are not permitted to access the site until the park reopens it.
More work will follow in the spring, when the park will use $123,600 in grant funding from the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency to improve the Lily Pond parking lot.