The city of Bexley has been developing Schneider Park since its establishment in the spring, recently adding an athletic field space, which has been accessible to the public since the beginning of the summer.
It was important for this space to be utilized because there isn’t much open space for recreational use in Bexley. There has been a lot of demand from the community for open space like this. The addition of the athletic field addresses these demands.
“Providing a space in that neighborhood and reinvesting in that neighborhood to provide opportunities for the residents around there was really important,” Michael Price, director of parks and recreation for Bexley, said.
This new space, which is located at the far south end of the park, is already accessible to the public even though it is still in the late stages of development.
The playing turf is not yet to the point where the space can start being used for local activities or programs.
Since its establishment back in the spring, Schneider Park as a whole has garnered a positive reaction from the community. Despite not being fully developed for programming and activities yet, the park is already being utilized by local residents.
Once the space is fully developed, the city will begin to host activities and programs there.
Besides the need for more open space, it was also important for the city to transform the athletic field into what it is now because it used to be an area that was not well-maintained and had a lot of contamination issues.
“[The location of the park] was an area that was unusable, so there’s been a dramatic increase in terms of the use of that space from what it used to be,” Price said.
The development of Schneider Park has required the financial contributions of a lot of stakeholders to get to where it is now and where it will be in the future after further development.
Bexley’s department of parks and recreation received grants from the Bexley Community Foundation, the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, and the Columbus Blue Jackets.
“In terms of the funding, we had a lot of partners that helped make [the development of the park] happen,” Price said.
As far as future development of the park goes, there have been plans to add a walking trail that will connect from the athletic field space all the way to Main Street.
In addition to a new walking trail, there has been talk of the possibility of adding a half court basketball court and/or a dog park.
The athletic field space will start being used for local activities and programs as soon as the playing turf is fully grown.
Schneider Park is located at 2101 Charles Street.
For more information about the park head to City of Bexley’s website.
