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Mill Creek MetroParks receive new endowments
CANFIELD
Mill Creek MetroParks has received several significant endowments so far this year.
At a meeting Monday, the park board accepted a naming-rights proposal for Fellows Riverside Gardens’ Rose Garden, which will be named after Joanne F. Beeghly, who died last year. Her family established a $215,000 endowment fund to benefit the Rose Garden, MetroParks Development Director Chris Litton said.
Naming rights also are in the works for the MetroParks Bikeway, following the establishment of a $100,000 endowment.
An anonymous donor endowed $200,000 to Ford Nature Center. Also, a group donated $5,500 for a new nature trail endowment fund, Litton said.
In other business, the board signed off on an agreement with the Pittsburgh Penguins Foundation. The foundation is working with the MetroParks to establish Dek hockey, a variation of ice hockey played on foot or with inline skates, at Wick Recreation Area.
MetroParks Executive Director Aaron Young said 75 percent of the estimated $200,000 project cost will come from the Penguins foundation. He said he expects the rink, at the site of the park’s former ice rink, to open 90 days after the contract is finalized.
In other business, Young announced the MetroParks will receive $186,000 in grant funding to acquire 26.6 acres of natural land along Anderson Run in Boardman, keeping with ongoing efforts to preserve stream corridors near the MetroParks. The MetroParks will be responsible for $62,000, which Young said the MetroParks will request from the park foundation.
The board also approved raising rental rates for numerous facilities, and adopted a uniform cancellation policy for park facilities.
The next board meeting is scheduled for 6 p.m. May 14 at the MetroParks Farm.