SALEM — The Salem Parks Department is set to take over ownership of a property from the Columbiana County Park District.

During the parks commission’s meeting Wednesday, Parks Director Kelli Pastore told commissioners that she had been approached by Columbiana County Park District Board Member Crystal Siembida Boggs about potentially accepting ownership of an approximately 0.35-acre property at 364 Sharp Ave. Pastore said that the property had been gifted to the county park district by the Columbiana County land bank with the condition that no profit could be made from the property and that it must be used as a park.

“There wouldn’t be any conveyance fees, the only fees we’d have would be a transfer fee to record the deed which they said would be minimal,” said Pastore.

Commission President John Panezott said that it could provide an opportunity to serve residents in the west side of the city in addition to Kelley Park on Prospect, and that it would likely be easier to develop for recreational use than Kelley. Pastore said that she’d had several parents tell her that they wished there was a playground in the area as many kids live there, a need which the Sharp Avenue property could potentially fill.

“At Kelley everything is going downhill. Where its flat is owned by [the school district] where the school was. So, there’s no decent place you can put a playground on Kelley,” said Panezott.

Pastore said that grant funding to build a playground on the property was potentially available through Gametime, and that while the application is due in early October, it would be better to finalize and apply in September as grants from private companies tend to favor early applicants. She also said that the grant has a stipulation that applicants in an under privileged area are not required to contribute any matching funds, and that the property would qualify for that stipulation.

Commissioner Don Yeasted asked if the county parks board had approved donating the property to the department, and if Pastore had meeting minutes verifying that the board was in favor of doing so. Pastore said that she did not have meeting minutes but had emails from two board members and Yeasted requested she obtain copies of minutes reflecting that approval for the department’s records. The board ultimately voted unanimously to accept the donation of the property under the condition that the requested minutes could be obtained.

The city council will still need to authorize accepting the donation of the property.

The parks commission will meet next at 5 p.m. Sept. 24.