Thanks to a multi-million dollar purchase, an old tourist destination is set for new life.
Aurora City Council on Monday, Sept. 16, approved upwards of $5 million to purchase all of Geauga Lake and 48 acres of lakefront property, including part of the former SeaWorld amusement park, from ICP Geauga Lake LLC.
The city intends to transform the property into a public park. SeaWorld closed in 2001, though Wildwater Kingdom continued until 2016.
“Our ideas include rehabilitating the pool area, building a beach for swimming and renovating docks for [nonmotorized] boating. We would also anticipate a boat house, restrooms and pavilion, among other features,” Aurora Mayor Ann Womer Benjamin said.
City leaders also envision constructing a trail around the lake when public funds become available, she said, “but we the city are not obligated to construct that trail.”
Anticipating the $5.5 million purchase, city leaders have been saving money since the deal was first proposed 15 months ago and are appropriating $4.22 million from the city’s operations fund and almost $1.3 million from Aurora’s share of ARPA funds.
“Taxes will not increase to purchase this property,” Womer Benjamin said.
Acknowledging that “there are certain unknowns,” Finance Director Tim Clymer said “the only time [the purchase] will impact the general fund will be when we look at operating expenses, once the property is built out and you evaluate staffing and maintenance and items of that nature,” he said.
Revenue from a Joint Economic Development District agreement Aurora has with Bainbridge Township should help offset expenses, he said.
The final agreement adds some $876,382 to the original $4.5 million purchase price, but city leaders negotiated the additional purchase of just over 7 acres of land, some directly adjacent to the lake bordering Route 43, Womer Benjamin said.
The property straddles Aurora and Bainbridge Township, which is in Geauga County. ICP has begun demolition activity on the Geauga property, but Aurora will delay its own demolition plans “until our initial plans are developed,” she said.
The city has hired MKSK, a Columbus-based planning, urban design and landscape architect firm, to serve as a consultant, and Womer Benjamin emphasized that development will proceed in stages.
First on Aurora’s to-do list are infrastructure needs, including utilities, roads and parking. Second stage efforts will focus on the pool and beach, Womer Benjamin said.
An existing dock could be used for boat rentals and SeaWorld’s former aquarium could be repurposed as a dining facility, Womer Benjamin said. The park will also eventually feature a welcome center with a community room, walking trails and parking, she said.
“This is a great day for our community and long in coming in the history of our storied past with Geauga Lake and SeaWorld,” Womer Benjamin told council members. “I believe this is an incredible opportunity to preserve this area for generations to come and to guarantee our resident lake access and a destination that is going to be one of the gems of northeast Ohio.”
Council Member John Kudley Jr. assured adjacent property owners, specifically members of the Geauga Lake Improvement Association, that city leaders “will do everything to protect their rights and access to the lake and have every intention of working with them.”
Womer Benjamin said the city has been eying the property for the better part of a decade and has watched as ICP, which purchased the land in 2020, sold lots on the lake’s north side for commercial and residential purposes. She said she did not want to see such development on the lake’s south side, in Aurora.
Invoking a statement he said came from his late father-in-law, who was also a former council member and Aurora mayor, Kudley said, ”If you own the property, you control what happens on it, and that’s the important thing with all this acreage.”
Wendy DiAlesandro is a former Record Publishing Co. reporter and contributing writer for The Portager.