Partnerships are benefiting community

A good plan to succeed is to build on your success.

That kind of good planning is overwhelmingly evident in Erie County right now, with the proposed $28 million expansion at Sports Force Parks at Cedar Point Sports Center on Cleveland Road (U.S. Route 6) in Sandusky.

The Ottawa and Erie counties visitors bureau, Lake Erie Shores & Islands, county commissioners and Cedar Fair have teamed up to propose building a 185,000-square-foot addition to the center, which opened in April.

The new indoor facility — which serves to expand the traditional five-month tourist season making our region a year-round destination city — will include ten regulationsized basketball courts, each one convertible into a total of 20 regulation-sized volleyball courts. The design has a championship arena with retractable seating for fans, a sports medicine facility managed by Firelands Regional Medical Center; a recreation center open to the public; and other amenities.

Initial projections show the facility attracting more than 70,000 additional visitors annually, generating about $85 million in new economic impact, and about $700,000 in new tax revenues for local schools, governments and other public services.

Cedar Fair’s investment was key to the development less than two years ago when Sports Force Park was first conceived for the lakefront acreage vacated by Griffing Airport.

The partnerships the company has formed locally are a testament to Cedar Fair’s continuing and long-standing commitment to be the good corporate citizen other communities envy.

Read the full editorial from the Sandusky Register at bit.ly/2rMIAfT