{"id":91537,"date":"2026-01-20T11:26:11","date_gmt":"2026-01-20T11:26:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/91537\/"},"modified":"2026-01-20T11:26:11","modified_gmt":"2026-01-20T11:26:11","slug":"lake-metroparks-negotiates-agreements-for-new-amenities-along-lake-erie","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/91537\/","title":{"rendered":"Lake Metroparks negotiates agreements for new amenities along Lake Erie"},"content":{"rendered":"

Lake Metroparks is negotiating two property agreements in Painesville Township that would allow it to extend the Lakefront Trail farther west and build a new western entrance to Lake Erie Bluffs.<\/p>\n

Neither deal has been finalized, but Metroparks Executive Director Paul Palagyi said that the park district is \u201cclose\u201d on both of them. The Lake Metroparks Board gave him authorization to sign the agreements when they are completed at its Jan. 14 meeting.<\/p>\n

Palagyi said that a proposed agreement with Mariana Properties would give the park district a permanent easement to build phase three of its Lakefront Trail. The trail currently runs a little over a half mile west from Painesville Township Park, and phase three would bring that length up to about two miles.<\/p>\n

Park officials have said that the third phase would also include a new entrance, new parking lots off of Fairport Nursery Road, a loop back to a parking lot from the trail and shoreline decking that would run along part of the trail.<\/p>\n

Even though the agreement has not been signed yet, Palagyi said that the property owner has let the park district begin engineering work for that third phase.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe greatly appreciate their generosity in working with us so that we can bring this great amenity to the shore of Lake Erie for Lake County residents,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s our greatest natural resource.\u201d<\/p>\n

Occidental Petroleum Spokesperson Jennifer Brice sent a statement over email. Mariana is an affiliate of Occidental.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe look forward to working with (Metroparks) to bring this trail project to completion, which will benefit the community for years to come,\u201d Brice said.<\/p>\n

Metroparks Deputy Director Vince Urbanski said that most of the language in the proposed agreement has been \u201chashed out,\u201d and the park district is waiting on its next phase of engineering.<\/p>\n

The permanent easement would cover about 100 acres between Fairport Nursery Road and Lake Erie in Painesville Township, though it would not be all of the land north of the road, Palagyi said. The land is part of the former Diamond Shamrock site.<\/p>\n

He added that the park district sees the future potential of adding a trail connection that would run south into Painesville City. City officials have also previously mentioned the possibility<\/a> of building a connection between the city and the trail.<\/p>\n

Palagyi said that funding for the Lakefront Trail project has come from sources including Lake Metroparks, the Northeast Ohio Areawide Coordinating Agency, county officials and federal and state legislators. The park district will also seek additional grants.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been great to hear elected officials across the county talk about the importance of improving access to our greatest natural resource, and I think this is really accomplishing everybody\u2019s goals, and I think that is illustrated by the fact that so many different groups and individuals are putting money into it, and saying this is a county priority,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Palagyi also said that with an easement, the park district could build the trail, but it would not own the property or anything underground. The easement would be donated and permanent.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s important to us that we wouldn\u2019t want to spend public tax dollars on a project like this for a temporary easement that even 20 years, 30 years down the road somebody could say, \u2018That\u2019s mine now, thanks for building me a beautiful trail,\u2019\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

A Lake Metroparks project fact sheet provided a total length of 9,500 feet for all three phases of the trail. It said that the phase three cost estimate was $2,328,780.60, with funding from the park district, NOACA and the Federal Highway Administration.<\/p>\n

Construction is expected to start in fall 2026 and be completed by summer 2027. The park district said that remediation for the trail portion of the Diamond Shamrock site has been completed.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Palagyi said that discussions on the Lake Erie Bluffs agreement have been in progress for \u201cseveral years.\u201d It would grant Lake Metroparks a permanent easement on a strip of grassy land owned by Ohio Realty Corp., just east of the intersection of Bacon and Lake roads in Painesville Township and just north of the Lake County landfill.<\/p>\n

\"LakeLake Metroparks Executive Director Paul Palagyi shows a proposal for a new western entrance into the Lake Erie Bluffs park. The park district is negotiating an agreement for access in the yellow box, seen in the lower-left quadrant of the map, so it can build a new entrance and parking lot near the intersection of Bacon and Lake roads in Painesville Township. (Bryson Durst — The News-Herald)<\/p>\n

The park district could use that easement to build a new western entrance into Lake Erie Bluffs.<\/p>\n

Park officials said that residents of the houses near those two roads currently have to drive five miles to get to the nearest park entrance and parking lot in Perry Township, even though the park\u2019s trails are closer.<\/p>\n

Palagyi added that houses continue to be built in that portion of Painesville Township.<\/p>\n

The park district has been building new trails in the western portions of the park in anticipation of the easement. Urbanski said that there will be a loop available near the parking lot, since the walk to the rest of the park\u2019s trail system would be about a mile.<\/p>\n

Urbanski added that he hopes the agreement is finalized in the first half of the year. Metroparks Legal Counsel Mark Ziccarelli told the park board that the parties are \u201cclose\u201d and there are \u201ca couple of issues left.\u201d<\/p>\n

If a deal is done by April, Urbanski said the new entrance could be under construction this year.<\/p>\n

Public comment<\/p>\n

Lake Metroparks announced on Jan. 19 that it is seeking public comment for the Lakefront Trail phase three project. It asked for comments to be submitted by Feb. 18 and said it will respond to all comments that it receives.<\/p>\n

Residents can submit comments by emailing Urbanski at vurbanski@lakemetroparks.com, calling 440-639-7275 extension 1602 or sending mail to:<\/p>\n

Lake Metroparks
Attn: Vince Urbanski
11211 Spear Rd.
Concord Twp., OH 44077<\/p>\n

The park district asks that all emails and letters reference Lakefront Trail PID 122421.<\/p>\n

More information, including the project fact sheet<\/a> and virtual presentation<\/a>, can be found by visiting lakemetroparks.com<\/a> and selecting the Jan. 19 news story referencing an \u201cInvitation for Public Comment<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Lake Metroparks is negotiating two property agreements in Painesville Township that would allow it to extend the Lakefront…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":91538,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[45119,136,138,137,45126,45122,45118,45121,45125,45120,45127,45124,45123,45128],"class_list":{"0":"post-91537","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-erie","8":"tag-agreements","9":"tag-erie","10":"tag-erie-headlines","11":"tag-erie-news","12":"tag-former-diamond-shamrock-site","13":"tag-lake-erie-bluffs","14":"tag-lake-metroparks","15":"tag-lakefront-trail","16":"tag-mariana-properties","17":"tag-new-amenities-along-lake-erie","18":"tag-ohio-realty-corp","19":"tag-paul-palagyi","20":"tag-properties","21":"tag-vince-urbanski"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91537","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=91537"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91537\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/91538"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=91537"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=91537"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=91537"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}