UNION TOWNSHIP, Ohio — Union Township has added bench seating at the Veterans Memorial Park playground using funding from the Clermont County Park District’s Community Parks Improvement Program, the township said in a social media post.
The Community Parks Improvement Program traces back to Clermont County voters’ approval of the park district’s first property tax levy in 2016, and the district launched the grant program the following year to help townships, villages and cities that lack their own park systems complete local projects, according to the park district. The program has awarded roughly $95,000 to $103,000 annually in recent years, with individual grants generally running up to $20,000 and often serving as matching funds alongside a community’s own money, the park district has said.
“We’re trying to bridge that gap for them and make each local park experience memorable and meaningful,” Clermont County Park District Park Director Chris Clingman has said of the grant program.
Union Township has drawn on the program before. The park district awarded the township a $20,000 grant in 2018 for brickwork and pond access improvements at Veterans Memorial Park, according to the park district.
Veterans Memorial Park, at 906 Clough Pike, spans 25 acres and includes tennis, basketball and pickleball courts, a soccer field, a baseball and softball diamond, sand volleyball and cornhole courts, a fitness track, a catch-and-release fishing pond, three picnic shelters and a decommissioned helicopter that serves as a landmark, according to the township. The park is open from dawn to dusk.
The information contained in this story was obtained from Union Township and the Clermont County Park District.