Kalida has park pride

KALIDA - A new park, being planned for the north end of the village, will greatly enhance leisure activities for the community.

Dedication ceremonies were held Saturday for the new 70-acre site, just north of Kalida on Road M. The project is a joint effort of the Kalida Lions, Kalida Athletic Boosters and the village. All three entities have provided funds and volunteers for the project.

Bill Rieman of the Kalida Lions Club, said the new park involved a great deal of planning. Rieman noted it would likely take millions of dollars to build a new park, but they will have a tremendous cost savings with the plan due to the volunteer time and donated labor as the park progresses.

The Kalida Lions organization has committed half of their profits from their projects toward the new park. However, Rieman stressed the fundraising activities for the new park will not take away contributions from their other fundraising projects. They will still provide eye glasses as they always have, and continue supporting their other projects.

"We really struggled with that," Rieman said.

The Lions will also donate half of their proceeds from the 11^th annual Poker Run to the new park project. The event will be held Sunday, June 28 at KAPS Sports Bar and Grille.

Part of the planning process involved looking at a lot of different parks in the region in developing a master plan which is close to being finalized. They contacted every property owner who had property adjacent to the village to determine where the best site for the new park would be. Some of the properties did not meet the criteria needed while others were out of their price range. The current community park is located near Kalida High School and the new school construction has taken much of that area. This site selected is the best site possible for this project, he said.

"This is the best site for what we wanted to do," Rieman said. "This we feel is the ideal property for a park."

Kalida Mayor Alan Gerdeman said Kalida has always had a history of doing projects "first class," and this park project will be no exception. He thanked the community, the village council, board of public affairs, the Lions, the local businesses. and other volunteer groups for this exciting new development for the community which will be "second-to-none" in Northwest Ohio.

"I have every confidence this will be a great facility that will serve the community for years to come," Gerdeman said.

A walking path will also be developed from the community to the new site. Rieman said a path will be developed along a former railroad line. There is also a web site, www.kalidaparks.com that has preliminary information posted on it and the opportunity to provide feedback from the community. Residents are encouraged to email any comments and suggestions through this web site.

Saturday's event marked the close of Phase One and the beginning of Phase Two which will be devoted to developing the property on the northside of Road M. This second phase of the project is expected to last 12 to 18 months and will focus on developing soccer and baseball fields which he said is the greatest need of the community.

"There's not enough ball diamonds for the kids," Rieman said.

They may not be able to have the fields ready by 2010, but there will be some major progress made toward the fields. The plan for the area south of the road will involve developing park areas and shelter houses in the future.