The hope is to add paved hiking trails, an observation tower, extension of the pond for fishing, along with a meeting area and nature space for children. The trails will connect to the already existing Sycamore State Park.
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Neighbors in the community said the closed golf course had become an eye sore and that they have hope for the updates.
“It’s a sore to the eyes just to see the way things are. I like the outdoors,” one Trotwood resident, Priscilla Epps, said. “If the scenes are pleasant to the eyes, I think people will go out more.”
The MetroParks organization has more than 15,500 acres of land which it either owns, leases or protects.
“I feel like it would give the kids more to do,” Chloe Foster, a Trotwood resident, said.
Officials will join the new park with their Great Miami Mitigation Bank.
The Mitigation Bank is located on Little Richmond Road in Trotwood next to the closed golf course. Five Rivers MetroParks purchased 360 acres from Waste Management Inc. to recreate wetlands to become a Mitigation Bank in 2008.
The Mitigation Bank is used for developers to buy credits that offset small wetland areas destroyed during development of buildings.
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The MetroParks used a $1 million Clean Ohio grant to purchase and clean the golf course as well as other properties throughout the Miami Valley creating conservation areas and parks.
There is no set completion date for the project, but officials hope to get a budget approved for the project before the end of the year.
Reporter Malik Perkins contributed to this story.
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