By JAN LARSON McLAUGHLIN
BG Independent News
Wood County Park District’s board of commissioners agreed last week to spend about $400,000 in capital improvement projects in 16 parks next year.
Park patrons will notice the smoothing out of a constant rough area on the Slippery Elm Trail and the paving of a mountain biking course. They will see new boardwalks being put in at W.W. Knight Preserve and a shooting platform being built for archers practicing for deer season.
Less visible will be maintenance projects like the sump pump at Zimmerman one-room school, the field fencing at Carter Historic Farm Park, or the concrete floors added to a couple barns.
The following projects were approved for the 2021 budget:
Buttonwood Recreation Area – $1,000 for miscellaneous items. This park along the Maumee River in Perrysburg Township still has lingering ice damage from last year. People wanting to fish can get to the river from the park, but very little parking is now available. The park district is looking at the hydrology of the area to determine the future of the park. “We’re looking at what we want to do down there,” said Wood County Park District Director Neil Munger.
Cedar Creeks Preserve – $2,000 for miscellaneous items.
Fuller Preserve – $500 for miscellaneous expenses.
William Henry Harrison Park – $53,000 to start the improvements to a house sitting on acreage purchased by the park district last year. The house will be renovated so park police can use it for offices.
Park District Headquarters – $10,500 for replacing a gas furnace and water softener.
W.W. Knight Preserve – $30,000 to redo displays in the nature lookout area and classroom area, replace the entrance ramp into the building, and start replacing the park boardwalks in sections. “It’s gotten kind of worn over the years,” Munger said of the boardwalks.
Otsego Park – $11,000 to create a visual interpretive display in a room in the Thompson Stone Hall overlooking the Maumee River.
Wood County Historical Center – $32,000 to build a shooting platform for the archery range. The platform would allow target shooting from above so archers could practice for deer season.
Zimmerman School – $2,325 to supply electric service to the old one-room school, since a sump pump is needed to keep water out of the crawl space.
Slippery Elm Trail – $80,500 for a section of the trail in Bowling Green, and for the bike park in Rudolph. A portion will be used to make repairs to the trail just south of West Gypsy Lane Road, where the asphalt has been heaving. According to Munger, it was discovered that tree roots have been pushing up the pavement, so the roots will be cut out in that area. The trees are expected to survive the project. “They’ll be fine,” Munger said. In the new bike park, a section for mountain biking will be paved next year, a park entrance sign will be added, and a storage building will be repaired.
Baldwin Woods Preserve – $12,000 to add a park entrance sign and information kiosk, plus put a concrete floor in the pole barn. The park district hopes to offer group camping opportunities in the woods, Munger said.
Carter Historic Farm Park – $25,000 for fencing in some of the farm fields similar to how they would have been during the Great Depression era, working on a barn implement building, drilling a new well for the farmhouse, painting the house and implement barn, and extending the gravel rutted drive to the wetland area.
Bradner Preserve – $3,800 to rebuild a storage shed by the pond.
Beaver Creek Preserve – $3,000 for miscellaneous items.
Reuthinger Preserve/Native Seed Nursery – $186,000 to add employee workspace in the pole barn, and to realign the driveway entrance to the stoplight at Cable Drive and Oregon Road. “Right now it’s really tough for our people to get in and out,” Munger said.
Sawyer Quarry Nature Preserve – $3,000 for miscellaneous items.
