City looks to future for Kings Woods

Problems date back 20 years, residents say

The forested land known as Kings Woods has grown problems along with trees in recent decades, said Lorain residents who live nearby.

But Lorain city leaders say regulations have changed and there is a plan in place to improve at least 43.85 acres in the area north of the railroad tracks to West 12th Street and from Arianna Avenue east to Ashland Avenue. Another triangle-shaped parcel sits west of that land, and between the railroad tracks and Arrowhead Street.

Lorain City Council’s Building & Lands Committee met March 12 to discuss Kings Woods.

A week earlier, Council approved an ordinance accepting the donation of the land, which now is controlled by the Lorain County Land Reutilization Corp., or county land bank. City officials hope to work with Lorain County Metro Parks to re-forest the land, removing invasive species of plants and replacing those with pin oak trees.

But on March 12, the talks dealt mostly with the history of the land and troubles with drainage at the site.

In the end, Lorain officials are

hopeful for the future of the site, said Councilwoman-atLarge Mary Springowski, who led the committee.

Kings Woods is an emotional issue and the residents deserve to have a say, Springowski said. She added she felt badly for residents who saw the trees of Kings Woods cut down.

But the main problems of the project date from 20 years ago, she said, under different laws and different administrations. Many of the companies involved are no longer in business, Springowski said.

“The laws have changed, safeguards have been put into place so that this will not happen again, and we are working on a fix so that it’s not developed back there and that the people can enjoy it for what it was and what it can be,” Springowski said. “We’re trying to be positive on this and work with the community to make this something that will enhance their lives.”

Lorain resident John Wargo has complained for

years about how the city has not enforced any maintenance standards for the land.

“For 20 years, they’ve been kicking the can down the road,” said Wargo, who did most of the talking from the floor at the March 12 meeting.

Most recently, two retention ponds built at the site were never maintained, Wargo said.

Under current rules, developers must establish a homeowners’ association to maintain retention basins, said Lorain City Engineer Dale Vandersommen. Lorain now has a section of its building code dedicated to post-construction water quality regulations, he said.

That was not the case when Kings Woods was developed before 2009, Vandersommen said. If there was no homeowners’ association, the city was responsible to maintain the ponds, he said.

The ponds were put in properly, Vandersommen said, although Wargo countered that earlier city officials considered the ponds were not installed correctly.

The land was to be the

site of new homes, but Mack Industries Inc. of Valley City foreclosed on the land in April 2009.

The Lorain County Treasurer’s Office filed foreclosure lawsuits against the land in 2015. The county cases were joined with the earlier foreclosure in court and the land was forfeited to the state of Ohio in July 2017, according to court records.

When the land was in the court case, it was under control of a receiver. Wargo and other city residents reacted in disbelief when city officials stated the receiver needed no city or state permit to cut down trees for logging from the site several years ago.

The committee also heard form city residents Norbert Stager, John Franko, Denver Casto and Gary Davis.

After the meeting, residents Lori and Rich Kapalin agreed they have been fighting for 20 years over the fate of the land. Lori Kapalin noted her mother, the late Jeanne Riegel, was one of the first to call on the city to form a Kings Woods committee to preserve the land.