By Aaron Johnson
The Cincinnati Enquirer

COLERAIN TWP. - They found tires; they found bed frames; they found bicycles, glass, car parts, a car and a moped.

"It was just a dumping ground; when most of the neighbors were asleep, people brought stuff and just left it there," said James Emmerson, one of more than a dozen people who helped clean a piece of property just beyond the dead-end of Sunlight Drive in Skyline Acres in Colerain Township.

Recently, police officers, Skyline residents and other volunteers transformed the mini-Mount Rumpke that it had become. Chopping their way through thick bushes snarled from the years of growth and neglect they cleaned for five hours.They raked up broken bottles, removed 20 tires and filled two trash bins.

Where once there was a mess, there are now plans for a community park.

Emmerson, a retired 23-year resident of Skyline Acres and chairman of the Skyline Action Committee, had contacted neighborhood police resource officer Leonard McGaha, seeking answers about the mess and what neighbors could do about it.

McGaha, assigned to Skyline as a part of Colerain Township Police Department's community policing initiative, has developed a good relationship with the neighborhood since June, when the community-policing program began.

After some investigation, McGaha found the answers Skyline residents were looking for.

Two people own the plot, just shy of an acre, and when Ronald Reagan Highway was completed, the property was cut off from a larger piece on the other side.

While houses went up on the larger piece of property, the plot of trees and shrubs on the Skyline side of the highway was forgotten, and an accumulation of garbage, vines and weeds took over.

McGaha met with the property owners, community parks and recreation leaders and the city zoning commission. The owners offered to donate the property. The group decided a community park would be ideal for the community, something the residents can walk to.

"We're looking forward to turning it into something that can be valuable to the residents at a minimum cost," said Greg Snyder, Parks and Services Director for Colerain Township. "It is also creating relationship with the township, residents and police."

"We got more done than people thought we would do and it made a world of difference on just the way the street looks," said McGaha. "It really looks like it is going to be something nice."

Area businesses Bigg's and Rumpke played a major role.

"I think it's an outstanding thing that they're doing for the community," said Steve Dicken, store manager at Bigg's in Colerain.

Rumpke donated the two trash bins, a truck and a driver.

The park, part of Colerain Township Parks and Recreation, will be oriented toward 3- to 12-year-olds. No construction date has been set.