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January 2011

I wonder if our fellow citizens have any idea what really happened when our city council approved the purchase of the 423 acres on Hines Hill Road in Hudson.

Hudson City Council saw an opportunity to prevent new housing with its added tax burden of expanded school expenditures. Park officials saw additional acres of green park land adjacent to the existing Maple Grove park. Western Reserve Land Conservancy saw an opportunity to preserve wetlands feeding into our Brandywine Creek.

In fact, it was all of those things. But, in the words of the TV ads, “Wait, that is not all !!”. Those of us who have lived in and loved this community for decades saw much more. Proud as we are of our community, we recognized that Hudson has real unmet needs — for seniors, for families, for its youth. Needs that can be met at this unique site.

We saw the makings of a fabulous center for recreational, cultural and educational activities that would make Hudson the envy of all northeast Ohio. This site, which was called Springhill when purchased back in 1902, already has a junior college campus with most of the facilities necessary to host a myriad of community activities.

With a minimum of additional investment, we can have a slew of recreational facilities right in our City — activities such as year round soccer, ice hockey, figure skating, curling, paddle tennis, basketball, volleyball — activities for which Hudson families are now driving painful miles for. We can have continuing education programs for our seniors in the daytime and entrepreneurial programs for our young adults and aspiring small businesses in the evening.

We have a pretty pond for family fishing and picnics, a greenhouse and garden space and trails for hiking. And for our youth with cultural interests beyond athletics we have space for music, theater, dance, art and poetry. Facilities for businesses, artists and writers to hold weeklong retreats are virtually in place. Summer camps for kids will already have a glorious outdoors plus a lovely indoor pool, gym and auditorium already in place.

With proper planning, all this can be had at no cost to the taxpayer. The location is perfect to make Hudson ‘the destination city’ for northeast Ohio with tournaments and other cultural attractions to bring visitors from a wide area ready to dine and shop in Hudson. Properly planned and administered, Springhill can be an economic boon to our fair city.

Take a look at what we already have and start to imagine what amazing possibilities are at hand. Yes, it takes vision. It has risks. Timing is critical. But the possibilities of making our city the absolute best are ‘there for the making’ if we put our minds and hearts to it. Please send me your comments and join us in spreading the word!

Den Rich
VP – HCF
dwrichoh5@gmail.com

 

Springhill Possibilities – current status (1/2011)

It is the view of the AdHoc Community Sub-Committee that our objective of tax neutrality (no additional burden on taxpayers) for the community center can be achieved only by prompt implementation of a critical mass of multi-generational activities.

This is because the very first program will require building modifications to meet the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) as well as additional parking both of which are too expensive to be supported by any single program. Moreover, the programs are synergistic. Parents are more likely to feel secure sending their kids to Springhill activities knowing that responsible adults are active there at the same time.

The critical mass of activities can be achieved by a joint management structure for the community center under Hudson Community Education and Recreation , TecHudson , Akron University and Everest Soccer. This combination of education, economic entrepreneurship, academic research and athletics can support the initial modification and on-going maintenance of the facility. A sub-committee survey of our community revealed the following needs:

1. hockey (plus figure skating and curling)
2. basketball and volleyball courts
3. a youth center
4. soccer fields (indoor)

By placing such new facilities contiguous with existing buildings, we can achieve ADA requirements at minimum additional cost. Many additional community programs have been reviewed and may be incorporated based on RFPs to be issued by the City.

The AdHoc committee has approved the segmentation of the property into park land (north of Hines Hill Rd.) and protected wetlands subject to a Water Resource Restoration Sponsor Program. This WRRSP boundary (see map below) is incorporated in our purchase funding requests and must continue to be observed.

Therefore these are our starting points:

¹ HCER is a division of the Hudson School District already running hundreds of community education and recreation programs.
² TecHudson is a business incubator program initially funded by City of Hudson.

 

Springhill – Future Possibilities

The Vision

HCF invites your input with regard to the possibilities illustrated below. Nothing is cast in concrete. We seek input from all Hudsonites. The few limitations, such as wetlands preservation, are spelled out on page two. Suffice to say we want a combination of education, economics, culture and recreation for all of Hudson’s citizens.

In addition to the program facilities, we feel it is important to establish maximum safety for our families. Therefore the plans you see below include access control at each entrance and surveillance cameras at each building and overall area lighting. There will also be a requirement for wireless broadband access throughout the site. We plan to introduce aeration fountains in the pond to improve and preserve water clarity

The ‘cottages’ (see page one) are suited to summer camps, artists and church retreats and organizational meeting places. A number of organizations have expressed interest in virtually all of the existing facilities. These will require fix up funds which generally can be raised from government, corporate and philanthropic institutions AFTER the overall community center business plan has been completed.

We are determined to be ‘green’ — not only in the land set aside as parks and wetlands but in the new facilities as well. It will be important to go slowly in chopping down trees, leveling land and installing parking lots. Moreover there is federal funding for achieving LEEDs points in green design. In most cases that design is cheaper even without federal assistance – i.e. well worth our time and effort.

Revised plans are attached for both the east and west campus. They reflect recommendations to City Council that we construct three new facilities:

1. basketball and volleyball courts with an indoor jogging track
2. a hockey, figure skating and curling arena
3. a performing arts center

It is envisioned that all three of these buildings would be linked to the existing high school, cafeteria and the Cooley administration buildings. This increases the synergy of a variety of educational, cultural and recreational programs and facilitates conversion of the existing buildings to meet America Disability Act (ADA) requirements.

It is also envisioned that the new buildings be “air-supported” structures because they bring the outdoors in and provide a better sound and lighting environment. Please take a look at the attachments to see examples and a discussion of the pro / cons of such buildings.

We have started with clear plastic dome buildings not only because they are more economical and spectacular but because they require less energy and support natural vegetation. Moreover, Springhill has natural beauty and, while Ohio weather does not support year round outdoor program activity, we like the idea of bringing the outside in.

What can you do?
We need citizen input. Concerned citizens who are eager to see multi-generational, multi-cultural activities established at Springhill are urged to join us in designing programs to finance themselves through admissions and user membership fees so that no additional burden falls on taxpayers.

It won’t happen overnight. There will be risks but they can minimized if we plan ahead and plan together. No single program can be sustained on its own — but each supports the other. If you would like to be involved in the planning contact your councilman.