Development to resume at New Phila park
NEW PHILADELPHIA (WJER) (Sept. 12, 2024) – City leaders are using grant money to continue improving Southside Community Park.
Service Director Ron McAbier says the tentative plan is to build restrooms and possibly a concession stand near the pee-wee football and soccer fields, depending on the cost.
“With split-faced block, the overhangs, the black metal plating for it, and then the one we’re looking at – but I gotta wait to get a price naturally – it also has a little pavilion off of it.”
The restrooms are part of the second phase of improvements planned for the park that opened in 2021. Mayor Joel Day says the city received $250,000 from the state and $50,000 from the Kimble Foundation to get started but still has a long way to go before the project is fully funded.
“It will take around $2 million to complete all the improvements in the phase 2 project. Senator Sherrod Brown’s office recently informed the Service Director that the City’s application for federal funding for the project was rejected. But he was told to keep trying.”
If estimates for the restrooms exceed the grant total, McAbier would like to construct a shed or storage building at the park so workers don’t have to keep hauling equipment back and forth.