“This will be one of the most transformative projects I’ve seen in Springfield, especially on the south side,” he said. ”My hope is that once our work is complete here, we will see additional development of multifamily homes on the remaining land in this neighborhood.”
Last week, officials showcased the projects they are working toward near West Euclid. They reviewed the work done to date, highlighted properties designed for new builds, toured commercial redevelopment and presented plans for the new community park.
New park planned
The new park development, a collaboration with the Land Bank, Clark County Park District and community stakeholders, is over half an acre of land that’s anticipated to be ADA accessible with a basketball and pickleball courts, playground and play equipment, and swing sets — “those essentials for a good park,” Harris said.
“This park really represents more than just green space,” said Clark County Land Bank Board Chair, Melanie Flax-Wilt. “It’s a reflection of our shared values of health, connection, recreation, and stewardship. It’s a place for children to play, families to gather, and neighbors to reconnect.”
The Land Bank allocated $500,000 toward the new park at 504 W. Euclid Ave. This is the site of the former Euclid Elements building, which caught fire in 2016 and was demolished in 2018.
The goal is to raise an additional $750,000, to bring the total to $1,250,000. Harris said they hope community members, organizations and foundations will donate to the project.
“We’re going to have to rely on residents and the community to buy into this project ... We really just hope that the community sees the value in this for our community,” he said.
New housing options
In addition to the debut of the park site, officials showed plans for two affordable housing developments. They also took a tour of Kore 4 Konnection’s facility that will be repurposed into a commercial kitchen and community event space.
The first of the new housing options, an apartment development, will be at the site of the current sunflower field on West Euclid.
The land next to that will get 10 single-family homes, at 1,300 square feet with three bedrooms and two bathrooms. Harris said the 10 houses will move forward in the next couple months.
“This is another example of a wonderful collaborative partnership that Springfield gets to enjoy with the rest of the community,” Mayor Rob Rue said during the event. “This infill project is ... transforming the neighborhood. If you look around and see the green space that’s going to be transformed, it’s amazing.”
Other revitalization efforts in that neighborhood include demolishing all the blighted structures that were between Southern and Grand; taking ownership of the sunflower field that’s between Grand and Euclid (which is now owned by the city of Springfield), and cleaning up the site with the help of Keep Clark County Beautiful.
The Land Bank partnered with the city of Springfield for environmental site assessments on the sunflower field and the former Euclid Elements site. They sold 608 W. Southern Ave. to Kore 4, which is co-owned by Nettie Carter-Smith.
Funding for projects
The land bank budget fluctuates often with grant funding, Harris said, but this year’s budget was set at $4.2 million. Half of the budget is two large federal ARPA grants for the housing projects —$1 million from the county and $1 million from the city — to help the two new housing developments.
“I think we’re just really excited to be in the community and doing the work that we’re doing and have the support of commission, community members, and other nonprofit organizations around town to continue to do it,” said Kara Van Zant, development project manager.
Harris said the land bank was first created 10 years ago to help address the housing foreclosure crisis. Out of that, they received neighborhood initiative program funding and completed 150 demolitions in Clark County, with a vast majority in the city of Springfield.
Over the last decade, the land bank has completed many projects, including owning and operating the Upper Valley Mall that closed and was sold and turned into a business park with multiple light industrial and logistics companies. They owned and managed the Kroger property on South Limestone that was transferred to Groceryland; and sold over 400 vacant, abandoned and underutilized properties.
Before the Engaged Neighborhood project, the Land Bank was working along the bike path, then called “Project Path.” About seven or eight years ago, a traffic study was done and showed that two-thirds of everyone that parked in the lot for the bike path south of town that crosses over Dayton Yellow Springs Road were going south instead of coming north into Springfield.
“That really got me thinking, like why are people not coming up in Springfield?” Harris said. “It’s much closer than riding your bike all the way to Yellow Springs. If you rode your bike from there, there was, at that time, a lot of blight between the bike path parking lot and downtown.”
So, the Land Bank took ownership of and demolished the blighted houses between Southern and Grand, plus the commercial building on the other side of the bike path at Southern and Grand.
“It really got people engaged and looking at the potential of investing in that area,” Harris said.
The Engaged Neighborhood concept and new community park came out of a Greater Ohio Policy Center study conducted on behalf of the housing consortium group that wanted to address the housing challenges on the south side of Springfield. The study showed they needed more amenities than just housing, and Conscious Connect CDC’s park study gathered what residents would like to see in that area, Harris said.
“It also just helps bring folks in from an economic development perspective too of wanting to ride their bikes,” he said. “Maybe they stop at the playground and then they ride their bikes a short five minutes longer to downtown Springfield and they shop and eat (there) while they’re here instead of riding south of here to our neighbors down in Greene County,” he said.
Once the park is built, it will be donated to the Clark County Park District.
“This isn’t just green space, it’s about reclaiming neglected ground for a higher purpose. It’s about honoring the voice of the community and it’s about creating lasting value for the people who live here now, and those we hope will call this neighborhood home in the future,” Harris said.
The Land Bank is taking donations toward the park effort at https://givebutter.com/EuclidPark, or you can call Kara Van Zant at 937-521-2173.
Credit: Springfield News-Sun
Credit: Springfield News-Sun
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