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Changes at Poland Township Park to be unveiled this year
POLAND
Some major changes at Poland Township Park are nearly complete.
Park leaders expect to unveil several new additions to the property between Cowden, Moore and Miller roads later this year, including a sled-riding hill and a cross-country course.
Work on the sled-riding hill, located just east of the park’s playground and parking area, is now complete. The hill won’t be open until next winter, however, so that grass can grow.
Besides its use as a slope down which visitors can plummet – it was purposely designed to be steeper than other hills used for sledding in Poland – the hill will be part of the cross-country course, and a vantage point from which spectators can watch all 5 kilometers of races.
The course is slated to be ready for a meet this fall. Poland’s cross-country program did not previously have its own course.
Also in the works is a plan to add a 7-acre wetland area adjacent to the park that could be used for educational purposes. That project is slated to begin this spring.
The land on which those projects are taking place belongs to the Republic Services-operated Carbon Limestone Landfill. Republic leases the park land – which currently consists of 77 acres – to the township for $1 annually. This year, the lease will be amended to incorporate an additional 15 acres on which the sledding hill and running course are located.
Republic also has been responsible for funding and overseeing those projects; the sledding hill, for example, was incorporated into a multimillion-dollar drainage project for the landfill.
Another improvement that will be ready this year is the addition of restrooms to a building between the park’s two soccer fields. That facility is slated to be completed in time for the Poland Youth Soccer Association’s upcoming season.
Community leaders also are working to raise funds to build an indoor activity center in the park.
Mike Heher, Republic Services division manager and park board chairman, recently highlighted to the township board of trustees another improvement to the park that was completed this summer, thanking volunteer Ken Filicky for making it happen.
Filicky, who has voluntarily completed numerous projects for the park, worked all summer to spread stone on the park’s trails. The township park opened in 2009.