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Planned Firestone improvements include sports courts, walkway

COLUMBIANA — New sports courts and a new walkway at the Harvey S. Firestone Park are planned for next year.

The improvements are part of the overall $3.5 million improvement project spearheaded by the Columbiana Restoration and Beautification Committee (R&B).

R&B chairwoman Pat Tingle and park board president Dr. Ron Detwiler gave updates on the project to city officials last week. The city is assisting the committee since it is responsible for the public park.

The sports courts project will consist of reducing the existing tennis courts from four to two courts and renovating the existing basketball courts at the current sports complex, and adding a pickleball court.

Pickleball is described online as a paddle sport that combines elements of tennis, badminton and table tennis. It can be played by two or four players.

“We want people to know that is our next big goal,” Tingle said of the sports courts.

She added that the original estimate for that project five years ago was $250,000 and that has likely increased over the years.

The committee is securing private and public donations for the improvement project, and has raised roughly $1 million to date.

“We have had a lot of organizations that have been very generous,” Tingle said.

She specifically thanked the Columbiana Community Foundation, Chamber of Commerce, Rotary and American Legion, as well as Grace Church, the Blakeman family, Tom Mackall, Keith Kaiser, Jeff Stoy, Columbiana Girl Scouts, Graft Electric and the Firestone family.

She said the committee has raised $46,000 through the sale of memorial benches alone, and that two were purchased by Kimball Firestone and Lendy Brown, descendants of Harvey S. Firestone who visited the city this summer with other relatives to see the progress at the park personally.

As for the walkway, the city was able to secure a grant through the Ohio Department of Transportation in 2017 to fund the majority of that project.

Originally an 80/20 grant, ODOT increased its portion to cover 95 percent of the funds through the Toll Revenue Credit, for a maximum of $266,100 in federal funds for 2019. The remaining 5 percent will be paid by the city.

The walkway will loop around the park, going past the pool area, the gazebo and onto Springfield Road. This project also consists of repairing the historical brick gutters that border the sidewalks and installing a new sidewalk that will extend all the way to Springfield Road.

Detwiler said the historic bricks are being retained for use elsewhere in the park to preserve the history.

Those wishing to make a donation to the park project can do so online at restorecolumbiana.com

kwhite@mojonews.com

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