Proposed amenities for Franklin Community Park expansion, upgrades
New 20-acre section: Five new soccer fields, parking, an entrance off Tama Lane, a multi-use trail, a practice field, a concession stand/restroom facility, and a pedestrian footbridge over Clear Creek between the newly purchased land and the portion of the park near Hampton Bennett School.
Area near Hampton Bennett School: The city would seek to make an agreement with Franklin City Schools to build a driveway to a new parking area, a multi-use trail that connects two ways back to the current Community Park and to the nearby Franklin Junior High School, and another multi-use practice field. Lewis said the city doesn't currently own or have an agreement to use that land but would work with the school district to develop an agreement.
Existing Community Park improvements: A splash pad, an accessible playground, a climbing/bouldering area, a fitness trail, a multi-use trail, a new 40-foot by 60-foot picnic shelter near the existing swimming pool, a re-oriented ball diamond that would coincide with a natural amphitheater/sledding hill, an extension of the Great Miami River Recreation Trail bike path, and the possible relocation of the park's maintenance building.
SOURCE: City of Franklin
Franklin’s Community Park could see some major improvements over the next few years as expansion plans are being discussed for the newly purchased land west of Ohio 123.
City Council discussed a 2014 conceptual plan during a Monday night work session about the proposed improvements estimated to cost more than $2.6 million over the next four to five years.
City Manager Sonny Lewis told council that they may need to do the work in sections over a period of time to take advantage of state and federal grants to construct some of the amenities if the city chooses not to borrow funds for the project. The new 20-acre section of land was purchased last November for about $150,000.
“There isn’t any money available to build baseball, football or soccer fields, but there is money for walking paths and fitness stations,” he said.
Lewis also said the city may also apply for grants for more playground equipment.
The new addition will stretch the park to Tama Lane and will include five new soccer fields, a pedestrian footbridge over Clear Creek between the newly purchased land and the portion of the park near Hampton Bennett School.
To assist with vehicle and pedestrian traffic crossing Ohio 123 between both sections of the park, a traffic signal and crossing is also being proposed. In addition, Lewis said there may a need to also re-locate the entrance to Hampton Bennett School so school buses could access the proposed traffic light. Hampton Bennett houses the Franklin City Schools’ central office as well as the district’s Early Childhood Center programs and kindergarten classes.
Mayor Denny Centers asked if people were OK with moving the youth soccer fields over to the new section. Lewis said it easier to move the soccer teams to the new section.
“Preliminarily, I think this is a good plan,” he said.
Councilman Carl Bray questioned the proposed cost of $200,000 for a pedestrian bridge that would also be wide enough for a golf cart for maintenance crews.
Bray asked, “Can we do away with the bridge and have more parking at the soccer fields?”
“The question is do we want a bridge or use the $200,000 for asphalt,” said Councilman Todd Hall. “I’d rather take our time and do it the right way instead of jumping in. We need to take our time and we should do what we can do as we can. It’s going to take a little bit of time to get this done.”
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