Friday, March 05, 1999
Park springs from an old water plant
BY WALT SCHAEFER
The Cincinnati Enquirer
READING — Work to create a new park on the site of the city's former water plant has begun.
A new gazebo — the centerpiece of the park — is being built.
The park, on a 1.5-acre site off Walnut Street near Central Elementary School and behind St. Peter & Paul School, has been made possible by using part of a $200,000 Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (OEPA) grant.
The city's largest employer — Hoechst Marion Roussel — has donated $27,000 to the city to pay for the gazebo, which features a 35-foot radius. It will be used as an outdoor classroom by students of the nearby schools and for special programs, said Mike Sipes, the city's director of parks, programs and recreation.
“This is a small parcel of land, and it is being designed to be a passive, environmentally based park with nature trails, benches and landscaping,” Mr. Sipes said.
“It will be used for some small programs — a naturalist's presentation, puppet shows, a magician, birding or gardening programs — that sort of thing.”
The park has been dubbed Greenway Quiet Park by city officials, but it will be renamed before it is dedicated sometime this spring, Mr. Sipes said.
The remaining $75,000 not earmarked for park development will be used to defray the costs the city incurred about six years ago to hook up to the Cincinnati Water Works.
The OEPA made the grant money available for the best plan to restore water and soil contaminated by Pristine Inc.
Pristine, a liquid-waste disposal company in the mid-1970s west of Reading Road, was cited by the OEPA for contaminating soil and ground water.
Reading's wells were contaminated by the company, forcing the city to close them, raze its water treatment plant — formerly on the site of the new park — and contract for water.
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