At the center of a working-class neighborhood, hemmed in by I-475 and Toledo Hospital, whistles blew yesterday at a football practice of grass-stained children while the sun dipped onto a dying park.
On the other side of the dirt-and-grass field, several children suspended themselves from a jungle gym, pretending to be Tarzan, or at least some of his cousins.
Colony Park, at the center of the Northwood neighborhood, also known as Old Colony, is in the way of Toledo Hospital progress, the mayor's office says.
City Council is poised to rezone the 6.3-acre patch for the hospital's commercial office use.
The Ohio Department of Transportation also plans to build an interchange through the park to give the hospital direct highway access. Residents of the neighborhood are also bracing for some sort of hospital expansion on the land.
The park, largely neglected by the city, its residents say, and officially deemed obsolete by the city's Parks, Recreation & Forestry Department, sits behind the North Campus Laboratory of the ProMedica complex near Monroe Street.
The Toledo Plan Commission takes up the rezoning request at its meeting tomorrow. Part of the paperwork for the request includes a letter from parks department director Kattie M. Bond, who says the city doesn't need the park anymore.
Council would have to approve the final rezoning, which Mayor Jack Ford, a former director of diversity for ProMedica, supports and suggested.
ProMedica spokesman Jenny Goldberg said most of the park would be used by ODOT for the interstate ramp, and the rezoning would be part of Toledo Hospital's "Renaissance" project to upgrade and expand.
She would not say what the system's specific plans are for the land.
Olivia Crites said she didn't know how a freeway ramp would affect her neighborhood.
"I have heard a motel and a power station. I've heard they are going to tear down these homes," she said. "We live here; we really don't want a ramp next to us."
Steve Herwat, director of the plan commission, said he was not "at liberty" to say what the ProMedica plans were.
His staff has recommended rezoning Colony Park from parks and recreation to a light commercial district that would allow for offices but not drive-thru restaurants.
"This is a situation where the greater public good is met," Mr. Herwat said "We have not received any significant number of negative calls."
Contact Christopher D. Kirkpatrick
at: ckirkpatrick@theblade.com
or 419-724-6077.
First Published October 13, 2004, 11:18 a.m.
