New Northwest Side park to include athletic fields, walking paths, new library branch

Athletic fields, birding meadows, wetlands and walking paths, and a new Columbus Metropolitan Library branch are all ideas Columbus Recreation and Parks Department officials are considering for the new city park at the former Ohio State University sheep farm on the Northwest Side.

"One of the biggest things people wanted at the park was a library," said Roy Wentzel, a Northwest Side resident and the sheep farm committee chairman for the Northwest Civic Association who has pushed for a park for years.

Parks officials presented concepts at a meeting earlier this month. The property at 2425 West Case Road is just south of Ohio State's airport, Don Scott Field, and for now is being called West Case Road Park.

Cheryl Grossman, who leads the Northwest Civic Association, said city parks officials have listened to residents' suggestions.

"They didn't ignore our wishes and interests," Grossman said. "People were anxious to keep the park as natural as possible."

Retaining wetlands a concern at new Columbus park

One option maintains existing wetlands while enhancing them with native planting, while clearing invasive plants from Slate Run and replanting native vegetation. A detention pond and wetland shelves would collect and manage stormwater.

It also would have meadows and three soccer fields and a cricket pitch, along with a small event center, a community gathering space, and meadows.

Wentzel said he likes this concept because it also keeps and reuses the red barn on the property along West Case Road. He said that preserves the feel of the site's agricultural use for all those years.

The other option also includes three soccer fields and a cricket pitch, along with an existing farmhouse that would be retrofitted into an open-air pavilion connected with an adjacent event center.

Brad Westall, planning manager for the city's Recreation and Parks Department, said concepts also show hard-surface courts for pickleball, basketball and handball. The park will also include an outpost for city forestry crews and a path connecting the park to the city's nearby Carriage Place Community Center.

The conceptual plans can be found here. To share opinions on the concepts, you can go to www.westcaseroadpark.com.

Westall said elements from both plans will be combined into a final master plan that is to be presented in October.

The city bought the nearly 58-acre parcel in 2019 for $5.2 million. Columbus officials had planned to sell 34 acres to Upper Arlington, which wanted to use that space for its own park. But Columbus residents objected and the city dumped that idea.

The city now plans to begin construction on the first phase of the new park by late summer or early fall 2023, Westall said.

But the build-out could take five to 10 years, based on funding and construction schedules. He said there's no cost estimate yet.

New Columbus Metropolitan Library branch had been sought by nearby residents

As for the library branch, Columbus Metropolitan Library spokesman Ben Zenitsky said conversation with city parks officials are preliminary, but ongoing.

"We’re planning on building a new library there, contingent on the city's park plan coming together," he said.

Zenitsky said that library officials heard the call from residents about a need for a library in the area. The site is about 3.6 miles from the nearest library branch in Dublin.

"In the last year we assessed the need and feasibility of adding a location. We determined the population and growing needs of the community demonstrate a need for a library in this area," Zenitsky said.

It would be the 24th library branch in Franklin County, he said.

Ellen Carol Jones, who now lives in Dublin but used to live near the site and has worked for the creation of the park, said she likes that the library branch would be within walking distance of surrounding neighborhoods.

"A lot of people who live in the area are immigrants," she said, including a number who attend nearby Columbus Centennial High School.

Wentzel said that while the general area has Antrim Park − the Columbus park near Worthington − and pocket parks, there's not one main focal point like this park will be.

"It’s truly going to be a community hub. Something that will bring the entire Northwest community together," Wentzel said.

mferench@dispatch.com

@MarkFerenchik

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Columbus' New West Case Road Park to include athletic fields, library