Columbus paying $2 million to build park in Reynoldsburg

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) – Two million dollars is headed from Columbus to Reynoldsburg to build a park on Brice Road.

During its meeting Monday, Columbus City Council approved the funding and the partnership with Reynoldsburg to build the park, just one of the big additions coming to the area.

The money will come from the Columbus Recreation and Parks Department voted bond fund.

Reynoldsburg Mayor Joe Begeny said progress on the project has been made during the past 18 months and the money from Columbus puts it closer to finishing.

Right now, the location is a stormwater facility. One large part of the deal was ensuring it would still serve that purpose for Columbus, as well as functioning as a park.

“Their biggest concern was to maintain the stormwater system facility you see here to make sure that’s not going to be impacted from what we’re doing,” Begeny said.

He said that the land technically falls under Reynoldsburg’s jurisdiction but is owned by Columbus.

The approved partnership is going to be a 10-year deal between the two cities with Reynoldsburg being responsible for maintenance.

The park will be a passive park, meaning it will have walking trails and a bike path, but not a soccer field or dog park, and now that it has been approved, planning can start.

“We’re going to have some trails all the way around, we’re going to have some overlooks, some gazebos, and some natural playground on site that will help benefit the entire community of Columbus and Reynoldsburg,” Begeny said.

These reasons are why residents like Erin Pritchard are ready for the park.

“I think it’s cool to see this part of town get a facelift and I think in the future property values will go up,” she said. “It’s super exciting to see in a few years or whenever it’s finished being developed that I can walk to another park, walk to a coffee shop or something.”

Other residents are happy about the convenience factor.

“We have a kid so she’s almost 2,” resident Rachel Buckley said. “We usually have to travel by car to go to the nearest park, so if we’re able to like to walk to one, I think that’ll be nice for the area.”

Begeny said the project will bring some life back to the neighborhood.

“The Brice Road corridor has been kind of ignored for a number of years and what I’ve done is kind of tried to find ways to revitalize this entire area,” he said.

Reynoldsburg hopes to break ground this July and have the park open by spring 2024, Begeny said.