New Albany Park Projects

The City of New Albany’s neighborhood park improvements began in 2021 with Sumption Park in The Links neighborhood. The City partnered with The Links HOA to install new equipment, a shade structure, seating benches and a new accessible play surface.

Byington Park is complete.  City crews will paint the fence in late summer 2023 after it has had time to season.

If you have any questions about the Byington Park upgrades, please do not hesitate to reach out to the City of New Albany at 614-855-3913 or admin@newalbanyohio.org.

The James River Park upgrades are now complete! Thank you for your patience during this project. If you have any questions about the James River Park upgrades, please do not hesitate to reach out to the City of New Albany at 614-855-3913 or admin@newalbanyohio.org.

In 2022, the City of New Albany completed several updates to the North of Woods playground, which included new swings, round wobble boards and a playground tower. Following the completion of these updates, city staff received feedback from neighbors requesting additional information and further updates to facilitate a safer and more accessible playground.

For this playground equipment, the city utilized a company called Earthscape because their approach to playground design recognizes that every child plays and interacts with the world in a unique way. Their aim is for children to develop mobility, strength, balance and coordination through free movement and they design equipment that facilitates undefined and open-ended play opportunities with connections to nature. This aligns with the city’s goal of making all city playgrounds more accessible with engaging equipment and surfacing that is inclusive for a range of abilities.

Following the completion of these updates, city staff received feedback from residents in the North of Woods area requesting an additional bay of swings for younger children and more equipment. As such, the city has decided to pursue these additions.

The installation of tot swings and stacky stacks began in July and should be completed in August. The North of Woods playground will remain closed until the installation is complete.

If you have any questions about the playground upgrades, please do not hesitate to reach out to the City of New Albany at 614-855-3913 or admin@newalbanyohio.org.

The Lambton Park upgrades are now complete! Thank you for your patience during this project. If you have any questions about the Lambton Park upgrades, please do not hesitate to reach out to the City of New Albany at 614-855-3913 or admin@newalbanyohio.org.

The Planter’s Grove upgrades are now complete! Thank you for your patience during this project. If you have any questions about the Planter’s Grove upgrades, please do not hesitate to reach out to the City of New Albany at 614-855-3913 or admin@newalbanyohio.org.

Phase one of Taylor Farm park is now open! The Taylor Farm site, which had been a farm dating back to the 1800s, is a nearly 100-acre tract of land bounded by the Rocky Fork Creek, Dublin-Granville Road, Harlem Road and the State Route 161.

What is the Taylor Farm Park, and what will it include?

The City of New Albany is currently working on developing a large community park in Taylor Farm Park (5526 E. Dublin Granville Rd.).

The Taylor Farm site, which had been a farm dating back to the 1800s, is a nearly 100-acre tract of land bounded by the Rocky Fork Creek, Dublin-Granville Road, Harlem Road, and the State Route 161.

The city re-phased construction of the project with an emphasis on including a playground in phase one instead of phase two. As a result, the city is targeting an early August completion for the majority of phase one. Aspects of phase one set to open in August include a walking trail loop, wood boardwalks, a permeable parking lot, and playground. It is important to remember that the Taylor Farm project will be a work in progress and won’t appear to be complete when the initial phase is open to the public. Subsequent phases are expected to begin as phase one work is finishing, and construction will be ongoing.

The playground will feature a rubberized play surface to provide accessibility to all abilities and will consist of two play areas – one with play equipment designed for ages 2-5 and the other with equipment designed for ages 5-12. The city is also working to stabilize and secure the existing farmhouse, barn, and accessory buildings to create a safe park environment.

The project will create 24 acres of forested wetland and 10 acres of emergent wetland. In addition, approximately 10 acres of upland buffer will be planted/restored, and 5 acres of forested buffer will be preserved.

What is the timing of the Taylor Farm Park construction?

The majority of phase one is intended to open in August 2023. This has always been a multi-year, phased project and construction will continue throughout this year as phase two gets started.  Additionally, a possible phase three could occur in the future, should the city decide to renovate the house and barn.

The city acquired the property in June 2021 and started to design phase one. That project was sent to bid, and a construction contract was signed on March 28, 2022. The previous property owner was still under active construction of their wetland mitigation project (not the city’s construction project) into May 2022.

Any construction project of this size and complexity is going to take significant time even in the best of circumstances. In addition to the localized challenges of this project, such as environmental restrictions and weather conditions, we also are dealing with extraordinary national conditions related to labor availability, supply lead times and economic conditions that have affected many construction projects over the past three years. This is a complex, long-term project that is being built at a very unusual time. We have experienced delays and challenges due to these conditions, and we expect those potential obstacles will continue into this year.

What is the status of landscaping screening?

The City of New Albany has made great efforts to work with property owners on the encroachments onto the park, so that we can adequately plan for and install landscaping for screening purposes. The site was surveyed over the summer of 2022. The first encroachment letter was sent out in September 2022. Because little progress was made, a second letter was sent in November 2022. Wanting to give a generous amount of time to homeowners, the city set a March deadline to remove the encroachments. The city followed up with a 30-day notice letter in February 2023. The March deadline has passed, and now city staff members are resurveying the boundary. If significant encroachments remain, then we will work with the city attorney on the appropriate next steps on a property-by-property basis. This process has and will affect the timing of any installation of landscape screening.

Why does it seem like this project is moving at a slower pace than the new pickleball project that was recently announced?

This is not an equal comparison. It is unfair to compare a flat, 2.7-acre site for a pickleball project that is essentially asphalt and striping to an almost 100-acre park site that has environmental and other encumbrances on 100% of the property. There are multiple levels of approval needed from local and state authorities to even begin construction of each phase of a project like Taylor Farm Park. Everything, including design, material selection, construction methods and actual construction, takes more time due to the environmental sensitivities.

How is the City of New Albany responding to concerns from nearby residents?

The City of New Albany staff members have answered every phone call and every email that they have received. They have met with owners at their homes. Someone stops our staff almost every time that they are at the Taylor Farm site, and the staff members have answered every question or provided all the information available at that time.

The City of New Albany held a virtual neighborhood meeting last summer just for the adjacent neighborhood. City staff members have looked at trees for property owners. When AT&T installed fiber on the park property without any authority to do so last fall and then moved construction to the neighborhood side, the City of New Albany talked to property owners and facilitated communication between them and AT&T. The city has inspected and addressed any field issue that have arisen in a prompt manner, as we would whether the neighbors are in New Albany, Jersey Township, Plain Township, or the City of Columbus.

What neighborhood considerations has the City of New Albany taken into account for this project?

Considerations have been made to be a good neighbor. The previous property owner designed the wetlands to leave only a narrow area between the environmental covenant boundary and the property line near resident backyards. While that space is wide enough to install a trail, the city did not feel that it was the right thing to do to put a trail that close to the neighboring homes. The design decision was made, at a significant cost, to go with a boardwalk over the wetland that is over 200’ (and in some areas 300’) from the property line. It cannot go further west due to an AEP easement that exists where the transmission lines are located. When the property line was surveyed and staked, the City of New Albany received feedback about weeds and wildlife. In response, the city decided to create a 5-foot mowing easement along the Taylor Farm Park property line to provide a spatial transition between the park’s native landscaping and the back or side of resident properties to allow homeowners to mow that area.

This land is currently a naturalized, wetland mitigation site and will soon be a public park. The City of New Albany understands that this project may be unpopular with some existing residents, but all concerns were taken seriously as city staff planned this project. The nearby subdivision was built with streets stubbed into the farm clearly with the idea that homes would be built on what is now park property. The City of New Albany believes that the acquisition of the land and development of a park instead of another subdivision is beneficial to the school district and the entire community, including the adjacent neighborhood. The city has designed the park responsibly with care and has taken significant measures to try to lessen the impact of having a park next door. The construction of the park is proceeding and will continue to do so at least through the end of this year.

The City of New Albany opened Rose Run Park in 2020 and celebrated the park’s dedication on Founders Day in 2021. We are now in the planning stages for the park’s second phase to be built across Main Street close to Village Hall.

Rose Run Phase II will include a beautiful new Veterans Memorial with a hero’s walk, plaza and water feature that will be a wonderful new public space for reflection. This Veterans Memorial will be right next to Founders Field, the community’s first cemetery, to further honor our history, and the park will be supported by up to 50,000 additional square feet of commercial space around what was the Duke & Duchess station on the corner of US 62 and Dublin-Granville Road.

There is currently no timeline for construction, but the City of New Albany is excited to see this project take the next steps towards reality.

Kitzmiller Wetland Park is the third destination park in our long-term plans. This park, which will be built on land that was acquired more than a decade ago between Kitzmiller Road and US 62, will include active and passive areas with walking trails, lots of play spaces and climbing structures for kids, sports courts, and possibly even a place for skateboarders.

This park will remain in the planning stages for at least another couple of years, giving us an opportunity to plan the park in a way that best fits New Albany’s long-term needs.

Kitzmiller Park rendering