As the Chagrin Falls Village parks commission identifies goals and objectives for the new year, the development of the first-ever strategic plan is among them.
“We need a plan,” said commission chair Anne deConingh, who has led the advisory body for 16 years. Its development is needed in order to provide consistency of attention to all of the village’s parks, she said. They include Riverside, Triangle, Bell Street, River Run, Franklin, Whitesburg, Founders Field, the Falls Viewing Area and the Ben King Arboretum and Trail.
“I think we have sort of made it up as we went along,” Ms. deConingh said of planning for the parks, “and we can’t keep doing that.”
She said the parks are of great importance to the community. “Our parks attract people to the village, because they like the green space, the fresh air and the ability to have a picnic and do things outside,” she said.
In addition to her role on the commission, Ms. deConingh co-chairs the village’s beautification committee. The group regularly hears compliments about the parks from those who live in and visit Chagrin Falls, she said. “It makes Chagrin so attractive.”
“The parks have been recognized as an essential part of the village for almost 100 years,” Mayor William Tomko said. “The Village Council issued a bond in the Depression to buy Riverside Park.
“When the old industrial buildings were torn down in the 1920s and ‘30s, the sites were used to create public open space, today Bell Street Park and the Falls Viewing Area,” he said. “Our parks and scenic areas are a large part of the reason the village is such a desirable place to live and visit.”
Ms. deConingh credited Mayor Tomko for his work in obtaining grant funding to benefit the parks through numerous projects, including the serpentine walk leading down to Riverside Park from the Chagrin Falls Library.
Heading into the new year, among the commission’s goals are replacing the wooden picnic tables in the parks with black metal coated ones, Ms. deConingh said, as well as replacing the drinking fountain in Riverside Park once a new playground design is approved.
She said that work will take place despite major projects planned for this year, including the North Main Street bridge refurbishment. “There’s a lot to do in Riverside, and we will address those goals even during the bridge project,” she said. “I think it is important we keep the parks available, especially during the bridge construction, because that is also important for the merchants.”
The bridge work will mostly impact Bell Street Park, which will be closed during its estimated year-and-a-half duration and will be used as a staging area. Ms. deConingh said she does not see Triangle Park being impacted by the construction.
This year’s strategic plan will incorporate all of the goals identified, with the commission meeting Feb. 1 to begin talking about how that plan will look, she said. “It needs to be a group discussion.”
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