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MetroParks Lily Pond reopens with upgraded parking lot
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 after 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.
“It will allow the storm water to infiltrate through those areas instead of running off the impervious surfaces, directly into the Lily Pond,” MetroParks planner Justin Rogers said of the permeable pavers.
Water that is not filtered through the pavers will filter through the bioswale or biofiltration garden, he said.
“It basically cleanses the water before it enters the Lily Pond and the Frog Pond,” Rogers said. “Before, when it was all asphalt, all the runoff went directly into a catch basin and into the Lily Pond.”
The system will improve the pond’s overall water quality.
“It was a really good project,” Rogers said. “A lot of people are here enjoying it already. It was a popular spot before the improvements, and I think this will only serve to increase its popularity.”
In addition to the parking-lot upgrades, the MetroParks soon will plant some native species around the Lily Pond.
Those efforts, paired with recent trail improvements, and addition of features such as an observation deck, boardwalks and an arrival plaza, largely complete the MetroParks master plan for the Lily Pond area, Rogers said.
“We want to improve the accessibility, the aesthetics and the function of the entire Lily Pond facility,” he said. “It’s really improving the appeal and the aesthetics of what is a very popular destination.”