Two architects presented an update on Aurora Park, located on the Geauga Lake property, at the Bainbridge Township Trustees meeting Oct. 27.
Two architects presented an update on Aurora Park, located on the Geauga Lake property, at the Bainbridge Township Trustees meeting Oct. 27.
Cullen Meves, a landscape architect with MKSK Architecture, of Cleveland, and Jeff Jasinski, an architect with DLR Group, also based in Cleveland, led the presentation.
The park spans both Portage and Geauga counties, with 9.35 acres in Bainbridge Township and 29.36 acres in Aurora, according to the City of Aurora.
Over the past nine months, MKSK and DLR sought feedback from various stakeholders to determine which activities would be most valuable to the communities, Meves said.
“(We asked) what should the core programming for this park be as a large-scale park for this area?” she said. “What will be the types of activities that people want to bring their families to? What’s missing in this area?”
Design features included practice fields, tennis courts, pickleball courts, picnic shelters and meeting spaces. Future plans also call for rebuilding the aquarium that was once located on the site, according to the firm.
The main architectural elements in phase 1B focus on the gatehouse turnstile building and the gatehouse pavilion, Jasinski said.
“The gatehouse turnstile building is kind of all about nostalgia,” he added. “It’s about rehabbing the building. We found it to be in pretty decent shape, thankfully. So it’s really just about refreshing the materials, bringing them back to what they were before, the kind of excitement that everyone is used to when they would come to the park.
Although the building will need to be torn down, it will look very similar once rebuilt, Jasinski said.
Phase 1B covers 15 acres and is expected to be completed in 2026, according to the City of Aurora.
Trustee Jeff Markley emphasized the Aurora Fire Department would be the sole provider of fire and EMS services for the park.
Both entities’ lawyers are currently working on a formal agreement to affirm this arrangement, said Laura Holman, the director of parks and recreation for the City of Aurora.
The presentation was the second of three required steps for project approval: the informal presentation, the preliminary development plan and the final development plan.
Meves originally appeared before trustees in late July for the informal presentation.
Trustee Kristina O’Brien praised the firms for their collaboration with the township’s departments on the park plans.
“I’m kind of thrilled with the cooperation between the two communities,” she said. “It’s really been, it’s really been great, and your design looks beautiful. And (I) appreciate consideration of Bainbridge and the process and all the departments have really worked closely.”
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Aurora Park, located on the Geauga Lake property, includes a variety of water and recreational activities and spans both Portage and Geauga counties.
