Lake Metroparks continued building, maintaining parks in 2024 - The News-Herald
EDITOR’S NOTE: This is one in a series looking at what Lake County communities, agencies and school districts experienced in 2024 and what is facing them in 2025.
Lake Metroparks made progress in 2024 in its efforts to increase public access along the Lake Erie coastline and Grand River corridor.
The first phase of the park district’s Lakefront Trail opened in the spring along the Lake Erie coastline, just west of Painesville Township Park. The trail winds along the lakeshore for 2,300 feet, and the district described it as paved, multi-use and Americans with Disabilities Act-accessible.
“We saw about 3,000 visitors per month during the summer, which was great,” said Metroparks Executive Director Paul Palagyi. “It turned out to be everything and more than we expected.”
Palagyi described the view from the trail at night as “the coolest thing” he has seen there.
“The park’s open till 11 and the trail’s open, so you have that opportunity to go out and see the stars, and there were a couple nights that I got out there and it was just a phenomenal view of clear sky and stars over Lake Erie,” he said.
The Metroparks will continue work on the trail in the coming years. Deputy Director Vince Urbanski said that the park district completed a shoreline wall needed to build phase two of the trail, and they will start construction of that 800- to 900-foot trail next year.
Palagyi added that discussions are underway now with the land owner for phase three of the trail, which is planned for the former Diamond Shamrock property. The Metroparks board approved a letter of interest with a contractor for engineering work on phase three at its December meeting.
Farther south, Urbanski said that Lake Metroparks built an access drive and parking lot at its Hemlock Ridge property in Leroy Township last year. By the end of 2025, the district aims to have a parking lot, shelter and 1-mile loop trail completed on the site.
“We’re very excited about what’s to come on the Lakefront Trail, what’s to come on Hemlock Ridge,” Palagyi said. “I think those are two very big projects that are going to take time to roll out, but we’ve been thinking about them and planning for them for years.”
“Just to see the public reaction to it has been very confirming to us that we’re going in the right direction,” he added later.
To meet the needs brought by the new parks, Palagyi added in November that the park district budgeted new ranger and operations positions in its 2025 budget, which the park board approved in December.
Another project that got underway last year was the addition of a quarantine facility at the Kevin P. Clinton Wildlife Center at Penitentiary Glen Reservation. Urbanski hopes that the facility is able to open in the spring.
Palagyi said over the summer that the center has not been able to bring in birds “most of the time” because of the possibility that a bird may carry in avian flu, which, he said, could bring a government requirement to kill other wildlife at the center. The quarantine center will allow the center to keep birds isolated upon arrival until they are cleared.
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