Painesville Township: Progress continues on Cicconetti Park
Jun. 11—Children and families can already play on the playground, rest under the pavilion and sit on picnic tables at Angelo Cicconetti Memorial Park in Painesville Township, but work continues on a parking lot, walking path and more ahead of a ribbon-cutting ceremony planned for August.
The park is located at 115 Bowhall Road and is open during daylight hours. Gabe Cicconetti, a Painesville Township trustee and grandson of the park's namesake, noted that the playground, pavilion and picnic tables were all completed at the end of summer 2021.
This month, Cicconetti said that the township will add a new parking lot, benches and a walking path that will wrap around the park. The parking lot is funded by a county Community Development Block Grant.
"We anticipate the bulk of the work, to have the park, done by the end of this summer," Cicconetti said.
Further additions are planned. The township received a grant this year to build a sidewalk on Bowhall Road from Madison Avenue to Dorothea Drive. Once the sidewalk is completed, which is estimated to be next year, it will connect to the park's walking path.
The park will also include public bocce ball courts in honor of Angelo Cicconetti.
"My grandfather was a huge bocce ball player, so we are going to at some point between this summer and next summer install and build bocce ball courts at that park as well for public use," Cicconetti said.
The park has been designed to meet standards from the American with Disabilities Act. The park currently has an ADA-accessible swing, with Cicconetti noting that there are plans to add a second swing with a strap in the future. The walking path will be made of asphalt, which will help those in wheelchairs and others with mobility restrictions.
Finally, at their May 17 work session, the Painesville Township trustees discussed possibly applying for a grant next year to replace the playing surface, which is already ADA-compliant, with a rubberized surface to increase accessibility.
Various donors have contributed to the park's construction, including Lubrizol Corp. which has donated $80,000.
"We're very thankful that a company like Lubrizol...really stepped up," Cicconetti said.
Gabe Cicconetti's father, retired judge Michael Cicconetti, gave $12,500, while Gabe donated $2,500.
Jackie Cicconetti, Angelo's wife, donated a Little Free Library to the park.
Angelo Cicconetti was a longtime Lake County Dog Warden and a Painesville Township trustee from 1997 until his death in 2011. Gabe also noted that he coached youth sports and served at his church.
"He just gave a lot to the community," Gabe said. "So this was just our way of kind of memorializing...his time and dedication to the community."
A ribbon-cutting ceremony is tentatively scheduled for mid-August, near Angelo's Aug. 22 birthday. The township will release more details once they are available.
