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City plans park renovations, paving projects

Funding for a major renovation project at Memorial Park - a project that will include moving tennis courts, building new pickleball courts and creating a veterans' park - was approved on Tuesday, April 29, by the Huntington Common Council.

The $350,000 appropriation will pay for just the first part of what is ultimately planned as a $1.2 million project.

Council members also approved an additional $150,000 for this summer's street paving projects, bringing the total available for street projects to $1.6 million - double the amount spent last year.

In its final appropriation, council agreed to spend $749,372 on improvements at the city landfill, including replacement of a "rat infested" building where the staff works.

The money - a total of nearly $1.4 million for the three projects - will come from surpluses in city funds, Mayor Brooks Fetters said.

At Memorial Park, the work will include moving the tennis courts now located along West Park Drive to the corner of Memorial Lane and Hitzfield Street, next to the existing horseshoe pits. The pickleball courts will also be constructed there.

The military plane and tank now located adjacent to the park's playground will be moved across Bartlett Street to the area now occupied by the tennis courts. Both the plane and tank will be restored and will become the centerpiece of a new area paying tribute to veterans.

In addition, the playground surface will be replaced with a soft material that is still solid enough to accommodate wheelchairs and walkers. Walkways and plantings will be upgraded.

Future plans call for the addition of an amphitheater and removal of the basketball court to make way for a picnic area.

An additional $100,000 was appropriated to hire an outside contractor to mow the parks, a chore that in the past had been handled by city crews. Those city crews will continue to mow other city property, but low bidder Huntington Nursery will mow the parks.

This summer's street paving projects will include major reconstruction of Jade Road and Hauenstein Road, said Anthony Goodnight, the city's director of engineering services. The city will bear the cost of the Jade Road project, and the redevelopment commission will pay for Hauenstein.

Repaving and patching will take place on streets throughout the city, Goodnight said, taking care of "areas that have absolutely disintegrated because of the winter we had."

The money appropriated by the landfill includes $500,000 to close 10 acres that are full, City Services Director Bob Caley said.

An additional $200,000 will be used to construct a large pole building that will replace both the scale house and shop, and provide indoor storage for the large, expensive machinery used at the landfill.

The current scale house structure, Caley said, "is a rat infested building ... it's in bad shape." The shop is now located in a separate building that's also falling apart, he said.
The final $49,372 will be used to pay attorney fees.

Council members suspended the rules and approved the appropriation ordinance on both required readings, making it effective immediately.

In other business:

• Council approved investing city funds through Morgan Stanley for periods of two to five years.

• An alley located next to the former YMCA site on Warren Street was vacated to allow an Ohio company to build a Senior Citizen apartment complex there.

• Council also designated the former YMCA site and the former Our Sunday Visitor building across Warren Street, which will be renovated into Senior Citizen apartments, as economic revitalization areas. This will allow the developers to request a tax abatement on the project.