New Albany to donate land to Rocky Fork Metro Park
The city of New Albany is donating a piece of land to the Rocky Fork Metro Park.
City Council on Dec. 13 approved a resolution authorizing the city manager to purchase two parcels, totaling roughly 74 acres, from Wallaby Properties, LLC.
Both properties are located in Plain Township, adjacent to the northwest corner of the intersection of Bevelhymer Road and Walnut Street,
The city is to spend $3.85 million cash for the parcel, while the asking price is $4.4 million. The seller intends to declare the $550,000 difference between the purchase price and cash amount as a charitable donation.
“We have set aside money to purchase additional acreage in order to grow Rocky Fork Metro Park,” said Scott McAfee, spokesperson for the city of New Albany.
“The metro park itself is already 1,200 acres, so there are already a lot of components that are in that metro park.”
New Albany will donate some of the acreage to the Rocky Fork Metro Park, although it is unclear how much, McAfee said.
The city has reached out to Columbus and Franklin County Metro Parks to see if the system would be interested in purchasing some of the land but no deal has been struck.
It also is not known what should become of the remainder of the land once a portion of it is donated, McAfee said.
The park features more than 3 miles of walking trails, a bridle park, a dog park, an off-leash trail for dogs, a play area for kids, a large shelter and observation areas.
New Albany has spent up to $4 million on the park, part of the Columbus and Franklin County Metro Parks, which opened in 2015.
Joe Stefanov, city manager of New Albany, said no amenities are planned on the site for the time being.
“We foresee it being for the future expansion of the metro park,” Stefanov said. “I guess it really just depends on what we end up deciding to do with the land (in collaboration with) our community partners.”
The parcels are located within the park zone in the New Albany Strategic Plan. They also are located within the city of Columbus’ growth zone, as defined in the annexation agreement between the cities of New Albany and Columbus.
The parcels are being acquired for the purpose of enhancing the Rocky Fork Metro Park, facilitating the growth of the New Albany Joint Park District and managing residential growth and student population.
The site is outside of the New Albany growth zone and can’t be annexed to the city of New Albany. For now, it has no access to public utilities, Stefanov said.
“If it was annexed into Columbus, then any of the kids who would be generated by residential development in that area would have to go the Columbus public-school system,” he said.
“If it remains in the township, they would go to New Albany school district.”
gseman@thisweeknews.com
@ThisWeekGary
This article originally appeared on ThisWeek: New Albany to donate land to Rocky Fork Metro Park
