"Edge Adventure Park" Receives State Grant

The City of Westerville was recently awarded a $300,000 grant from the state of Ohio to develop the “Edge Adventure Park” on the northwest side of the City near Westar. The “Edge Adventure Park” is proposed for a 10.5-acre wooded ravine between Vesper Way and Cleveland Avenue, and is expected to be in development in 2024.

Inspired by the blend of recreation, nature and adventure-style activities, the park will serve a dual purpose for workforce recruitment, worksite wellness pursuits and corporate fitness and team-building opportunities based on its location in Westar. As conceived in the voter-approved Westerville Parks, Recreation and Open Space (PROS) master plan, park planners are exploring adventure pursuits, potentially including climbing walls, a ground-level obstacle course, aerial training course, zipline, tree houses, trails and water features.

Westerville Assistant City Manager Jason Bechtold says the funding recognizes the park will have a regional impact.

“Westerville’s excellence in parks is widely known, and the Edge Adventure Park is attractive to the state for that reason,” said Bechtold. “With our investment and the state’s trust, this park can benefit regional tourism, bringing visitors to the park who will likely spend money at local shops and restaurants, including in the Polaris area of southern Delaware County and historic Uptown Westerville, just a short drive away in northern Franklin County. We’re appreciative of State Representative Mary Lightbody for championing this grant opportunity and helping us protect and activate more green space.”

Because it is situated along the western bank of Alum Creek in Delaware County, the locale creates an opportunity to activate the longest Central Ohio Greenways (COG) trail and one of the planned mid-Ohio Rapid 5 corridor (www.rapid5.org), a plan to connect Columbus waterways to its surrounding communities.

Activating the parkland for public use is in the works, with a $2 million commitment from the City for the project. The wooded ravine site includes three unnamed tributaries to Alum Creek. Because Alum Creek is the source of drinking water, the site was a named project in the Westerville 9 Element Implementation Strategy plan and is part of the City’s Source Water Protection Plan, enabling the City to seek funding from other sources to restore and protect the ravines.

“Our goal is to refine the concepts and complete construction documents in the next year,” said Randy Auler, Westerville Parks & Recreation Director. “The park will be designed as an all-ages active recreation site to facilitate individual challenges and family fun. Plus, it’s an added amenity to employees of Westerville’s business community.”

For more information, visit www.westerville.org/parks. For updates early next year on the park development timeline, subscribe to the City’s e-newsletter (distributed weekly on Wednesdays) at www.westerville.org.