Parma and WCPC Committee Buy Another Parcel For Preserve
12/18/2009
13 August 2009
By Bob Sandrick bsandrick@slJnnews.com
PARMA- The city, in partnership with the West Creek Preservation Committee, will buy and preserve 2.78 acres of wooded land at Brookdale Avenue and West 16th Street.
City Council approved the deal last week. The sale price was $95,000. The city will contribute $30,000 toward the land purchase. However, the state of Ohio, through its Land and Water Conservation Fund, will reimburse the city with a $27,000 grant, Mayor Dean DePierosaid.
Meanwhile, WCPC secured a $63,000 Clean Ohio Conservation Fund grant to help pay for the property. Dave Lincheck, WCPC director, said the remaining $2,000 needed for the purchase will come from individual WCPC donations and membership fees.
DePiero said the city's participation in the purchase is worth the expense despite sagging municipal revenues and budgetary setbacks this year. “It's a small price to pay," DePiero said. "The trail (which may someday run through the preserved land) really lends to quality of life in the community."
The city and WCPC are buying the land from Emily Vietor. Her son,Julius Victor, is donating another 1/3-acre abutting the Vietor property. The total amount of land being preserved-is slightly more than 3 acres. Lincheck said the value of Victor's donation is about $17 000. Lincheck said the city will own the land but WCPC will hold a conservation easement on it. That means the property can never be developed. However, it can be made into a park with "low-impact" recreational elements like hiking-biking trails, Lincheck said.
Theland obtained from Vietor and Victor connects two other properties already preserved by WCPC. WCPC wants to preserve the land because West Creek, a tributary of the Cuyahoga River, flows through it. So far, VW CPC has preserved more than 400 acres in the West Creek watershed the area where storm water drains into the creek - and beyond, Lincheck said. WCPC's ultimate goal is to create a 500-acre park and trail network called West Creek Preserve and Greenway. Lincheck hopes 20 miles of trails planned for the preserve will someday connect to the Cuyahoga Valley National Park's Towpath Trail in Independence.
According to an April WCPC newsletter, three trail segmentstotaling 2 and 1/3 miles, have been completed and are open to the public in the West Creek watershed. For the city and WCPC, the next step is buying and preserving about 13 acres, owned by the Busch Funeral and Crematory Services, on Ridge Roadat Pleasant Valley Road in Parma.
Lincheck hopes thedeal will close at the end of this month.
DePiero said that about three years ago, the Busch family wanted to develop the 13 acres, but the city convinced it to preserve the land, partly due to wetlands on the property. DePiero said the city expects to receive a Clean Ohio grant t0 pay for the 13 acres but details aren't available.
Meanwhile, WCPC has placed a conservation easement on 42 city-owned acres abutting the Busch property.