UH plans June 17 town meeting on proposed park bond issue

On June 17, at 7 p.m., the City of University Heights will hold a town meeting to discuss the proposed $1.8 million bond issue for the development of a public park on the former site of the Northwood/Fuchs Mizrachi school on Fenwick Road. The meeting will take place at University Heights City Hall, in Council Chambers.

In the June issue of the University Heights newsletter, Mayor Susan Infeld reported that “the park planning process is nearing completion,” and noted that the plans are posted on the city’s website, www.universityheights.com.

At the June 2 meeting of UH City Council, Mayor Infeld presented a resolution for a $1.8 million bond issue, to pay for the construction of the park. That was the first reading of the resolution; the second reading, required by the city’s charter, was on the agenda for the June 16 UH City Council meeting.

Infeld compared the costs associated with the new park to the cost of building the Purvis Park pool, 20 years ago. According to Infeld, the bond issue that paid for the pool “added $25 in property tax for each $100,000 in home valuation,” and will be “fully paid off in December 2014.”

Infeld said the terms of the proposed $1.8 million park bond issue “would be for 15 years and would cost a homeowner the same $25 per $100,000 valuation that they paid for the construction of the pool and playground at Purvis Park.”

Infeld is recommending to city council that a bond issue for park construction “be put before voters on the November 2014 general ballot.”

“I would like voters to have the opportunity to decide whether they want a new park,” said Infeld. “If they vote ‘yes’ in November, their taxes will not change and the city will be able to build the park as shown in the park concept on the website. If voters say ‘no’ in November, they will get $25 per $100,000 valuation returned to them and we will not have the park as proposed.”

Kim Sergio Inglis

Kim Sergio Inglis is editor-in-chief of the Heights Observer. She lives in the Shaker Farm Historic District in Cleveland Heights.

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Volume 7, Issue 7, Posted 10:24 AM, 06.16.2014