Brunswick to purchase property for new park

BRUNSWICK — Brunswick City Council on Monday approved purchasing property to be used as the city's newest park. A resolution was passed to acquire about 3 acres of land at 3321 Grafton Road in an amount not to exceed $212,500. Another resolution was passed to acquire the around 4 acres of property at 507 North Carpenter Road for an amount not to exceed $387,500. The parcels are contiguous to the vacant property the city already owns on North Carpenter Road. The new parcels would be annexed from Brunswick Hills Township to Brunswick. "We were lucky enough to approach the family as they were getting ready to list them," City Manager Carl DeForest said. "We got a pretty good deal on it." Vice Mayor Nick Hanek said one of the needs that came up in the city's parks planning process was the need for more baseball and softball fields. The hope is for the property to become a park with baseball and softball fields, concessions and a restroom. "We have way fewer fields than we probably should have given the size of the city and the amount of children playing, the different types of teams and different kinds of requests in the fields," he said. "It's been an ongoing struggle, so we've already kind of had it on the radar." So far, the city has looked at an overlay, and two baseball fields could fit on the property with plenty of parking, DeForest said. "You shouldn't have to park on the west side of North Carpenter on Hanover (Drive) and on Abington (Court) and those side streets," he said. "It would be dangerous for anybody to cross North Carpenter." There will be a planning process for the project itself. Hanek said the city wants to make this work with the neighborhood around it. "I can see phasing this project in over two to three years because you have to build the fields, sod or seed them, let them grow, build a parking lot and then determine what we have on the site to afford us the opportunity to build concession stands, bathrooms and things of this nature," DeForest said. DeForest encouraged residents to give their input on the project. "We'd like to make it beneficial for the community because the community are the ones who pony up the dollars and tell us through the master plan what they want to see in the community," he said. Contact reporter Madisyn Woodring at (330) 721-4049 or mwoodring@medina-gazette.com.