With three strokes of the same pen
today the 455-acre Cleveland Lakefront State Park ceased to exist.
Along with it dissolved a 35-year
management agreement between the city of Cleveland and the Ohio
Department of Natural Resources.
In the place of the state park arises a
six-unit complex, still owned by Cleveland but now managed and
administered by Cleveland Metroparks, Ohio's largest county-run parks
system.
In a largely symbolic exchange this
afternoon at the Euclid Beach component of the former state park/new
metroparks' holding, an agreement for the hand-over was penned by
Ohio Gov. John Kasich, Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson, and Cleveland
Metroparks' CEO Brian Zimmerman.
The new 99-year management agreement
now wipes clean the 35-year-old slate originally signed by Cleveland
and the ODNR.
Stoked over the exchange was Kasich who
was the first of the three officials to sign the enabling
agreements.
“It's done,” Kasich said, handing the pen over to Jackson.
“It's done,” Kasich said, handing the pen over to Jackson.
That “done” also includes Ohio
giving Cleveland Metroparks a check for $14 million, the amount
agreed upon earlier this year by the Ohio General Assembly as part of
the three-way deal.
“This is a growing reflection of the
increasing strength of the city of Cleveland,” Kasich said.
Kacish said as well that it was time to
finally return the units back over to Cleveland, which then just as
happily passed the management of the properties on to Cleveland
Metroparks.
“There was a lot that happened in a
very short period of time,” Jackson said. “It put a lot (of
pressure) on the bureaucracy in Columbus and here, but we worked
around the obstacles.”
Such effort was sorely needed because
Cleveland at least began to see management and upkeep of the
now-former Lakefront State Park sputter and stall, said Michael D.
Polensek, Cleveland Councilman for Ward 11 and of the city's most
influential elected leaders.
“I'm elated, and I've been looking
forward to this day for a long time,” Polensek said. “The park
had begun to deteriorate over the past 10 years, and we just didn't
see the state's commitment to the lakefront.”
Still, said Polensek, he was pleased
how Kasich and ODNR director James Zehringer “came to the
conclusion that now was time” to move forward with the exchange.
Zimmerman and his assembled staff
expressed no qualms about the agency's ability to manage the park,
either in its six parcels or as a whole.
And while Ohio's Natural Resources
Department will save at least $2 million annually by giving up what
was the six-unit state park, such expenses were never a deterrent in
accepting the three-way accord, said Cleveland Metroparks officials.
Zimmerman said also his staff is
already working on the nuts and bolts of managing the units,
including ascertaining the expenses required to assemble those
components which are being ballparked at $2 million to $3 million
annually.
“The addition of these six properties
to the 'Emerald Necklace' is an integral part of our strategic plan
as we move forward toward our goal of playing a key role in the
transformation of Cleveland's lakefront,” Zimmerman said.
As for the specifics, those
almost-too-numerous details will fall to Cleveland Metroparks' staff
of planners, rangers, maintenance workers and all of the agency's
other cooks and bottle washers.
Joseph V. Roszak, the parks system's
chief operating officer, said for starters the three western most
units – Edgewater Park, East 55th Street Marina Complex,
and East 72nd Street Boat Launch Complex will become a new
cohesively managed “Lakefront Reservation.”
Meanwhile, the other three components
consisting of Euclid Beach Park, Villa Angela Park, and Wildwood
Marina Complex will come under the header of the current Euclid Creek
Reservation.
That said, each of the six sites will
keep their well-known namesakes, added Roszak.
“They will retain their identity,”
Roszak said.
And importantly for boaters and anglers
the use of the boat ramps at such sites as East 72nd
Street, Gordan Park and Wildwood will continue at no cost, no launch
fee, Roszak said.
Likewise, says Roszak, the parks system
has already met with the former state parks' private
headboat-bait-snack concessionaires to let them know their contracts
are still good and will be honored.
Ditto, says, Roszak as well, for the
boat owners who rent slips at units such as those associated with the
East 55th Street Marina.
“You'd be hard-pressed to find any
negative comments,” Roszak said of the public's reaction to
Cleveland Metroparks' management takeover plans.
- Jeffrey L. Frischkorn
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