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Cleveland Metroparks, State of Ohio sign deal to bring lakefront parks into Emerald Necklace

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Three chief executives today signed documents that clear the way for creating a new Cleveland Metroparks  reservation on the lakefront, and expanding an existing reservation.
 
The signatures of Ohio Gov. John Kasich, Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson and Metroparks CEO Brian Zimmerman officially end state management of 455 acres on the lake – most of it owned by the city.
The transfer took place during in a formal ceremony at Euclid Beach Park on Cleveland's East Side this afternoon.


Cleveland will continue to own the properties, and the Metroparks will lease them for a dollar a year for 99 years.
Until the signing, they were part of what had been called the Cleveland Lakefront State Park and were leased by the state.
What will be known as the Lakefront Reservation of the Cleveland Metroparks will include Edgewater Park on the city's West Side, Edgewater Marina, Edgewater Yacht Club, the portion of Gordon Park north of Interstate 90, the East 55th Street Marina, a former state maintenance facility on East 72nd Street, the Forest City Yacht Club, the Inter-City Yacht Club and the Lakeside Yacht Club.
Euclid Beach Park and the adjacent Wildwood-Villa Angela properties --  including Wildwood Marina and Wildwood Yacht Club -- will become part of the existing Euclid Creek Reservation, which touches Cleveland, Euclid, South Euclid and a small corner of Richmond Heights.
 
Ann Zoller, executive director of the private, nonprofit LAND Studio, said the planning organization had been working in recent months to form advisory groups of residents to help shape the course the Metroparks system takes with the lakefront properties.


She said public opinion is solidly behind the transition.
Kasich signed a $7.6 billion transportation and public-safety budget bill April 1 that included a provision to break the leases the state had on the city-owned parkland. The leases still had about 15 years to run. The bill also included $14 million to ease the transition.
In late April, Cleveland City Council unanimously approved voiding the leases and letting the Metroparks manage the properties. The city will hand the $14 million over to the Metroparks to perform necessary upgrades to the parks.
The state also will underwrite repairs for the damage that superstorm Sandy inflicted on the parkland in October. 

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