Mill Creek's Lily Pond reopens with new parking lot, other improvements

Staff report

YOUNGSTOWN

Under a clear blue sky and warm beams of sunshine, recent visitors to Mill Creek MetroParks’ Lily Pond strolled around the tranquil pool, many stopping to gaze out at the green-blue water skirted by lush vegetation.

The MetroParks recently reopened the area to the public following substantial completion of a parking-lot rehabilitation project that caps off months’ worth of improvement efforts at one of the park system’s most-popular sites.

An Ohio Environmental Protection Agency grant covered 100 percent of the cost for the MetroParks to rehabilitate the Lily Pond area’s parking lot to reduce the volume and velocity of storm water, and to filter out sediments and pollutants from storm water.

The project replaced much of the parking lot’s asphalt with permeable pavers, and added a bioswale and a biofiltration garden.

Read the full story Monday in The Vindicator and on Vindy.com.