Akron Ohio News - Falls sites offer swimming, golf, scenic views

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Falls sites offer swimming, golf, scenic views

1/21/2010 - West Side Leader

By Kathleen Folkerth

The city of Cuyahoga Falls offers many neighborhood parks to enjoy, as shown above and at below.

Credit

CUYAHOGA FALLS — The importance of parks and recreation in the city of Cuyahoga Falls was made evident to Mayor Don Robart many years before he got an office at city hall.

Robart, who has lived in Cuyahoga Falls since age 7, remembers vividly what the city’s amenities meant to him as a youth.

“I can remember being out in the summer and a band was performing in our neighborhood,” he said. “That struck me as something very special. It really identified what summer meant to me.”

The rebuilt Natatorium opened to the public in 2005 and features four pools, a gymnasium and a four-lane, one-eighth mile indoor track.

The Water Works Family Aquatic Center was built in 1997 and includes water slides, a lazy river, zero-depth edge pool and sand playground.

Photos courtesy of the Cuyahoga Falls Department of Parks and Recreation

Robart gives credit for the city’s plethora of recreational opportunities to the city’s forefathers.

“Literally, in every neighborhood there’s a park you can walk to,” he said. “Growing up, I learned to appreciate that amount of neighborhood park activity.”

Ed Stewart, assistant superintendent and chief historian of Cuyahoga Falls’ Department of Parks and Recreation, said he credits Carl Fuerst, the city’s second superintendent of parks and recreation, with creating a standard for the city.

“He instituted a standard of 10 acres of parkland per 1,000 residents,” Stewart said. “We’re right around 50,000 residents and 600 acres now.”

William Lohan, superintendent of Parks and Recreation since 2008, said the city’s recreational offerings make Cuyahoga Falls special.

“What we hear over and over again is it is our park system and our amenities that attract new families to our community,” Lohan said. “What other community can you go to that features a health and wellness facility like we have, a family aquatics center, a golf course and 25 neighborhood parks?”

The department’s offerings aren’t just attractive to residents, Lohan said. Statistics show that about 45 percent of users at The Natatorium and Water Works Family Aquatic Center are nonresidents. Residents, however, pay a lower price to use facilities that require a fee, Lohan added.

The Natatorium, located at 2345 Fourth St., is one of the city’s newly renovated facilities. The rebuilt Natatorium opened to the public in 2005 and features four pools, a gymnasium and a four-lane, one-eighth mile indoor track.

This is the second incarnation of The Natatorium. The first was built in 1968, originally as an outdoor pool that was covered by an inflatable roof during the off-season. By 1976, the city determined that a permanent roof would be better, so that was added. Several additions followed, and the center began offering fitness classes and providing a place for various types of activity.

By 1998, the original pool began leaking, and city officials determined a new facility would be the best course of action. Residents responded to a survey and stated their wishes for the complex. Ground was broken in 2002 adjacent to the old Natatorium, which closed in 2004 to make way for a new parking lot.

A complete video history of The Natatorium, prepared in honor of the facility’s 40th anniversary last year, can be seen at www.cfo.cityofcf.com under Parks and Recreation.

In addition to The Natatorium, recreation is offered all year long at the Quirk Cultural Center, located at 1201 Grant Ave. The former Grant Elementary School was dedicated as the cultural center in 1986. Today it houses an extensive Senior Adult Program as well as youth and adult community programming, with classes in dance, crafts and art.

During warmer weather, Water Works Family Aquatic Center, at 2025 Monroe Falls Ave., offers a water park experience close to home. Constructed in 1997, the park has water slides, a lazy river, zero-depth edge pool and sand playground. It’s in front of Water Works Park, which has baseball diamonds and picnic pavilions for use alongside the Cuyahoga River.

Downview Sports Center is open all year for purists who want to use the driving range (with heated tees), but most visitors flock there to enjoy the 18-hole miniature golf course and batting cages. The facility, at 1617 E. Bailey Road, also features a skate park.

Adjacent to Downview is Brookledge Golf Club, 1621 E. Bailey Road. The 18-hole course was recently the site of $1 million in renovations. It will open for the season March 1.

Lohan said the city’s 25 parks are another way residents and visitors can enjoy the city. Almost all feature play equipment, and six parks include wading pools open to the public at no charge during the summer.

Lohan said the newest park site is High Bridge Glens Park, at 1817 Front St., which features a nice view of the falls.

“We put in a beautiful scenic bridge over the river by the Sheraton,” he said. “We took a couple of parcels of land and made a walking path down there to the river bank.”

Set to open this spring are the city’s new tennis courts at Cuyahoga Falls High School.

Lohan said the city’s and high school’s courts were in disrepair. The city and school district entered into a partnership to have a new tennis complex built at the school and given to the district by the city. In return, the school district will give the Quirk Cultural Center building to the city.

Lohan added the schools will use the courts during the weekdays and for team practice, but at other times they will be available for city residents to use.

With today’s economic situation, Lohan said the city has been fortunate that the parks department has been little affected.

“We’re actually in good shape,” he said. “Seventy-five percent of what we do is self-funded. The Natatorium, golf course, Water Works and Downview are all fee based and do not rely on the General Fund.”

The city’s parks may be affected in ways such as one-day delays in mowing this summer, but Lohan said he doesn’t think it will be noticeable.

The department also decided to change how often it updates its activity guide. The catalog will now be produced twice a year, instead of three times a year.

Small changes like that will help the department keep its many amenities and offerings going for local residents.

“We’re pretty proud of what we have,” Lohan said.

For more information, call the Department of Parks and Recreation at (330) 971-8225.

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