Ravenna looking to make access to Emerald Lake Preservation easier

Ravenna city leaders are waiting to learn if the city will receive a state grant to acquire two parcels of land adjacent to Emerald Lake Preservation.

Both parcels are currently owned by R.R. Wellington, Inc. One is about 5 acres off Lakewood Road; the other is about 10 acres off Emerald Lake Parkway. The owner has listed the properties for $410,000.

R.R. Wellington had worked with the city in 2022 to successfully protect the 100-acre Emerald Lake Preservation, Ravenna’s largest undeveloped property. Located between South Diamond Street and Hommon and Lakewood roads, ELP contains three significant wetland areas.

“With the sale of this additional land, which hopefully will be funded with a Clean Ohio grant, we will expand upon the protected natural area and provide improved access to it so that it will be easier for the city to utilize as a nature preserve with hiking trails,” Neal Hess, the broker handling the transaction, stated in an email to The Portager.

Though people trying to reach the Emerald Lake Preservation now risk a case of poison ivy, the land acquisitions would allow the parks and recreation department to build a parking area and walking trails and to install a boardwalk to the wetlands area, said former Parks and Recreation Director Judy Watkins. Word should come through by late November.

(Watkins left the city’s employ Sept. 5. Ravenna’s new Parks and Recreation director is Chris Bundy.)

The city’s acquisition of the land is “completely contingent” upon Ravenna receiving the grant, Watkins noted. Should the funds come through, outdoors enthusiasts would have options besides West Branch State Park and Cuyahoga Valley National Park.

“This gives people access without having to drive 30 minutes to be able to go into nature. There’s also sand dunes out there, which you’re not going to find anywhere in the area,” she said.

Under the terms of the grant, the city would be obligated to provide 25% of the purchase price. However, Hess said R. R. Wellington would donate the 25% so the city would not have to commit any funds at all.

Even if the grant does not come through, an already existing city easement will allow limited access to Emerald Lake Preservation. Watkins envisions an asphalt path from Emerald Lake Parkway to the land preservation trailhead, located just past the 10-acre parcel the city is trying to acquire.

Watkins said visitors will feel like they’ve left the city of Ravenna.

“People who are on their lunch hour, moms, dads, how cool is this for them to be able to go someplace? When you’re back in there, you feel like you’re in the middle of the woods. It is extremely peaceful. There’s so much wildlife back there. It’s so quiet, so calm,” she said.