by Ken Lahmers

Editor

Most Aurorans are familiar with the large properties the city owns, such as Sunny Lake Park, Ray and Margaret Harmon farms and the Aurora Wetlands on the far west side.

But there are several other small parcels which many residents likely do not know about. And even some city officials are not familiar with them.

At the beginning of this year, a new City Council committee -- which will oversee buildings and grounds owned by the city -- began to meet.

It is made up of Councilmen Tom Dreher, Jim Vaca and Dennis Kovach, along with recently added citizen reps Mike DeMay and George Yanda.

On a pleasant spring Saturday (April 19), the three Councilmen, Yanda and Council Clerk Tracy Humbert spent nearly five hours driving around town checking out some of the lesser-known properties.

I was eager to find out about some of them, too, so I accompanied the panelists.

We started at 9 a.m. in the Geauga Lake area -- Vaca's Ward 1 -- where he familiarized us with several tiny lots on up to the 10-acre Picnic Lake Park.

The city owns four lots in between the unconnected ends of Lake Avenue on the Bainbridge Township border. The land is a swamp, where a lot of trash and old appliances have been discarded over the years.

THERE ARE two unbuildable lots on Moneta and Orchard avenues, across which stormwater pipes run. There's also a sanitary sewer pump station on East Boulevard near the Orchard intersection.

Liz Strahan Park, named after a current longtime resident of the Geauga Lake area, encompasses 1.5 acres and has several playground toys and a small covered shelter.

Vaca said back in the 1940s and 50s, the parcel was an area where Scouts pitched tents for overnight campouts. Bryce and Lloyd avenues had not yet been extended west toward California Street at that time.

Picnic Lake Park off East Boulevard was Geauga Lake Park's original name, and is the former site of a sanitary sewer "package plant."

The park has a ballfield, basketball court and a couple of small play toys. A few years ago, arsonists burned down a covered pavilion, which was never rebuilt.

Picnic Lake Park backs up to Valley Christian Academy, and a walk toward the southeast eventually takes one to Aurora Lake Road.

After all the Geauga Lake area properties were visited, we paused for lunch at Nicky & Smitty's before heading south to more spots.

The city recently bought a 6.8-acre tract on Route 43 north of Bank Street, part of which previously was filled in with dirt and concrete slabs. A wetlands exists to the west, and Vaca said he would like to see the city acquire it some day.

A half-mile or so down Aurora Lake Road is a unique piece of property -- the Seward-Giles Cemetery -- where the remains of 27 persons lie. One is a Revolutionary War soldier.

THE CITY obtained the plot from Hawthorn of Aurora's developer. The graves will be marked, a fence erected around them and a walking bridge placed over a swail so visitors can access the site from the road.

At the end of Robinhood and Sherwood drives are 2.5- and 8.6-acre parcels, the bigger of which contains a pump station. Sewage flows through it on its way to the Westerly treatment plant.

The city also owns a wooded, but otherwise vacant 3-acre parcel at Cambridge Drive and Riley Road, where unfortunately a lot of trash -- including a large tractor tire -- has accumulated.

While traveling through that section called Weston Woods we took note of the deplorable condition of Cochran Road, which was built through a swamp.

Our final destination were three lots between and at the end of Chelmsford and Chatham drives in Chatham Estates, an area which floods during heavy rains.

During the tour, Dreher, who is chairman of the buildings and grounds panel, jotted down notes about stormwater pipes in need of repair and what could potentially be done with some of the unused parcels.

In the near future, the panelists may tour other lesser-known parcels and major land holdings as they continue to familiarize themselves with the city's 1,250 or so acres.

E-mail:

klahmers@recordpub.com

Phone: 330-688-0088 ext. 3155