Metroparks approves money for farmland

No solid plans to develop park

The Metroparks of the Toledo Area’s board approved about $1.5 million to purchase 38 acres at Hill Avenue and Reynolds Road, the site of the former Keil family farm.

THE BLADE/JETTA FRASER
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The Metroparks of the Toledo Area’s board approved about $1.5 million to purchase 38 acres at Hill Avenue and Reynolds Road, the site of the former Keil family farm.

The Metroparks of the Toledo Area has approved a deal to acquire the last piece of Toledo’s last operating farm for future development into a park.

The Board of Park Commissioners on Monday approved paying $1.514 million to buy about 38 acres at Hill Avenue and Reynolds Road, finalizing a nearly nine-year process to take possession of what had been the Keil family farm.

The purchase, which includes a historic gambrel-roof dairy barn and several outbuildings, will be offset with a $954,989 Clean Ohio Fund grant from the Green Space Conservation Program.

Including Monday’s transaction, the Metroparks district has spent $6,194,000 to acquire the 167-acre Keil family farm, with $5.4 million of the costs being funded with state and federal grants.

Tim Schetter, the Metroparks’ natural resources director, said the district has a yearly renewable lease agreement at $100 an acre for 112 acres with Tom Keil and Sons Farms, one of the sellers, to plant and harvest crops.

“This farming will likely continue until we are ready to begin park development at the site,” he said.

Acquisition of the Keil land began in 2007 with a 40-acre purchase that cost $1.6 million, paid with a grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

In 2008, a $414,000 HUD grant and a $1,448,139 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration grant funded a $2 million purchase of 51 acres. The Metroparks district got 27 acres in 2011 for $1,080,000, with the entire amount funded with a HUD grant. Eleven more acres were donated in 2014 by Christine McGinnis for the future park.

Currently, the district has no concrete plans or timeline on park development.

A concept in the Metroparks’ strategic plan suggests creating a system of ponds and wetlands, meadows, and trails.

Mr. Schetter said the outbuildings near Hill will be demolished next year while the barn, a precut model sold by Sears, Roebuck & Co., will be preserved for use in the park development.

“It will be a passive user park. We will be planting trees, growing meadows, and building a sledding hill. It will be your typical Metropark experience,” he said.

The park board commissioners approved a $276,640 contract with G6 Infrastructure LLC, of Maumee to construct a new kayak launch at Providence Metropark near Grand Rapids.

The project will include building a paved parking lot and placing a natural stone retaining wall to create the launch. It is to be finished by May 31.

Contact Mark Reiter at: markreiter@theblade.com or 419-724-6199.