Grand River Village gets grant for new park

The site of the old Merrick Hutchinson Elementary School in Grand River Village will soon begin its transformation into a public park, thanks to state and local officials.

Grand River Village Council, along with state Rep. John Rogers, D-Mentor-on-the-Lake, recently announced the village has received a capital improvement award from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources in the amount of $100,000.

The ODNR office of real estate and land management administers the appropriations.

The funds will be used exclusively for the Merrick Hutchinson Memorial Park, named for the first Grand River Village enlistee to die in World War I.

Grand River Village purchased the land from Riverside Local Schools in 2012 and demolished the Merrick Hutchinson Elementary School at 512 River St. in 2014. Rogers also helped obtain funding to demolish the school building.

“We are very excited about this grant,” said Council President Jennifer Hood, noting that the announcement coincided with the village’s annual picnic. “This will be a great start to our community park. It went great. John showed up in time to help announce the grant. The residents were very excited.

“The grant doesn’t cover everything but it’s a great start. Maybe it will prompt local businesses to donate to our park and further the progress. Grand River deserves to have this park and it’s been many years in the making. I’m very proud of our council. We work very hard for the village and it’s nice to see it all come together.”

Rogers worked with Mayor Christopher Conley and Councilman Ron Balog to apply for grants and awards to support the new park.

“We’ve been working on this for five years,” Balog said. “Now, we are $100,000 closer — it’s just a matter of getting documents to Columbus. We have until June 30, 2018, to use that money. We’ve got quotes from developers and we’re deciding which to go with.

“This is going to be roughly a $200,000-to$300,000 project. The pavilion, playground and basketball court will be first, that’s how we’re going to use these (newly acquired) funds. We’ve still got the parking lot and landscaping. Grand River Village is full of great people that deserve a nice park. It’s very exciting for us.”

Rogers said he’s very pleased and privileged to be in a position to help.

“They’ve got a great little community there in the village, and they’ve owned that square for a number of years. Small communities making improvements to enhance the quality of life such as this attract families, families who want facilities with activities to take place. This allocation allows Grand River (Village) to build a significant portion of what it wants one step at a time. It’s icing on the cake.”