Some background
Tim Franck, the township's community services director, said when the township split the park, the east side — where the baseball fields are located — was called the active side — and the west side is called the passive side or a natural state area.
The east side of the park has a baseball complex that includes four fields used for Little League baseball, soccer practice fields, a Boundless Playground area, new shelter facility with new mens' and womens' restrooms, 1881 timber-framed Mulhauser Barn, which is a seasonal facility rented out for wedding and other kinds of events and it includes a Moerlein Gazebo. The gazebo was donated to the township from the Christian Moerlein family and moved from their farm on Ohio 4 in Fairfield to West Chester Twp.
The township spent $3.7 million for Phase I and II at Beckett Park for a overall total of $5.7 million for all three phases.
Source: West Chester Twp.
By Denise Wilson
Staff Writer
WEST CHESTER TWP. — About $2.1 million worth of improvements being made to Beckett Park in West Chester Twp. are nearly complete, according to the township’s community services director.
The Phase III upgrades include adding fishing ponds; two shelters, including one with a fireplace; a small water feature, which will also serve as a ice rink; restroom facilities; and a natural playground made out of mounds and rocks with a tunnel for kids to play.
Boardwalks and walking paths have been constructed around the two lakes on the west side of the park, located at 8558 Beckett Road, which is scheduled to be completed mid- to late-summer, said Tim Franck, the township’s community services director.
The boardwalk will allow visitors to walk over the wetland areas connecting users to the grass trails in the park, which is the township’s largest park facility, he said.
The Phase III project, which began with installing a $280,000 handicap accessible Boundless Playground and building a shelter to the east side of the park before moving over to the west side, is being funded with a $250,000 grant from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, $135,000 grant from Boundless Playground and $1.7 million from the township’s Tax Increment Financing Fund, Franck said.
The west side of the 150-acre park is the area where most of the work has occurred, according to Barb Wilson, West Chester’s public information and marketing officer.
“The things on the east side have been in development over a period of years,” she said.
The upgrades to Beckett Park began in 2005 to develop it from vacant land into a community park, according to Franck.
“We’ve gone through phases, and we’re trying to wrap up Phase III — that began in the summer of 2010 — right now,” he said.
“We were hopeful that we could get it completed in 2011, but the weather didn’t cooperate, so we got a late start, and then we had a lot of rain at the end of the year too. It’s 95 percent complete. We’re just trying to wrap up some of the loose ends.”