West Hill is finally getting a park.
And no, the neighborhood does not already have one, said West Hill resident Karen Edwards.
“People will tell you that we have a park, and they’re referring to Alexander Park, which is beautiful and historic, and we love that it’s here in the neighborhood, but it’s not able to be used for a variety of reasons by community groups,” Edwards said.
Alexander Park, located at the intersection of Aqueduct, West Market and West North streets across from the I Promise School in West Hill, has received a number of service calls to Akron Police for issues like drug use, Edwards said.
And the park sits along a “super highway,” which makes it difficult for pedestrians to access, said resident Krysta Curl, who works with the West Hill Neighborhood Organization. West Hill needs a park that is “accessible and desirable” to visit every day, she said. Now it’s becoming a possibility.
West Hill Wednesday brings preview of new park
More than 150 people gathered at Glendale Park, a gravel-filled lot located across the street from the Glendale Steps, for the first West Hill Wednesday event of the year. The May 7 gathering served as a preview for the reimagining of the space that will become home to West Hill’s new park.
As part of a push from the Friends of Glendale Park and the West Hill Neighborhood Organization, among other community groups, the parking lot — originally intended to be a park connected to the Glendale Steps — will now be developed into a usable recreation site for Akron residents.
In recent years, the site has been used as a staging area for construction related to various sewer projects across the city, said Akron Planning Director Kyle Julien. The city now plans to spread grass seed on the site and is considering planting a wildflower meadow on the corner near Glendale Cemetery.
“We’re going to have our green space back, and it is because we have such a dedicated group of neighbors, and good relationships with city officials, a good relationship with our new council person,” Edwards said of newly elected Ward 1 City Council Member Fran Wilson. The current council representative, Samuel DeShazior, has also been very supportive, she added.
The Akron Parks Collaborative also plans to donate bike racks, said Edwards, who is the liaison for the Friends of Glendale Park.
There are talks of adding playground equipment and adult-sized porch swings in the future, among other features, she said. For those initiatives, the park group would need to secure funding, so it plans to apply for grants like the Akron Parks Challenge.
Curl, who moved to Akron two years ago, said that additions, like a playground, to the park will have a “natural look.” While it could be more costly to steer away from a primary-colored plastic play set, she said West Hill residents live in the neighborhood because they love historic properties.
“So we want to make sure that anything that goes into that park really fits with the historic nature of the neighborhood…” Curl said. “We want to make sure that that stays like a beautiful, natural space.”
Two local businesses will soon call Glendale Avenue home
At this stage, any permanent investment from the city could be “vulnerable” because no one would be watching over the park, Julien said. Before future city investments can be made, and for the safety and viability of the park, there needs to be a relationship between the park and the people who will use it.
“We don’t want to do investments in space that’s tucked away and there are no eyes on it,” Julien said.
It won’t be long before Glendale Avenue will benefit from investments made by local businesses. Akron City Council will vote next week on the sale of a city-owned building, located at 55 Glendale Ave., to Dirty River Bicycle Works. And Akron Glass Works is planning to relocate to the adjacent building, which formerly housed the Automotive Electric Service business, Edwards said.
The city plans to give the businesses a chance to get up and running before considering the ways they can be an asset to the park, Julien said, and vice versa.
“As those businesses establish themselves, we can work with them to think about having sort of a natural caretaker relationship, so to speak,” he said.
Julien also said the city wants to allow the Innerbelt plan to unfold and consider how the adjacent land, like the park, can fuel or “further that effort to reconnect across the trench and provide another connection point between the west and downtown.”