The Neighborhood Files

Parks Board to Consider Naming Veterans' Park

Kent council referred idea of naming new park under the Fairchild Avenue Bridge to honor the city's veterans

This artist's rendering shows the park that will be built beneath the new Fairchild Avenue Bridge on the west side of the Cuyahoga River. The park will extend The Portage Hike and Bike Trail, which currently stops at the east end of the existing Crain Avenue Bridge but will be extended across the river as part of the new project. City of Kent

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This artist's rendering shows the park that will be built beneath the new Fairchild Avenue Bridge on the west side of the Cuyahoga River. The park will extend The Portage Hike and Bike Trail, which currently stops at the east end of the existing Crain Avenue Bridge but will be extended across the river as part of the new project.

Credit City of Kent

This artist's rendering shows the view looking north from a pedestrian bridge that will be built in place of the existing Crain Avenue Bridge after it is torn down. The pedestrian bridge will extend The Portage Hike and Bike Trail west across the Cuyahoga River to a new park that will be built underneath the Fairchild Avenue Bridge.

Credit City of Kent

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Tonight the Kent Parks and Recreation Board will consider naming one of the city's forthcoming parks in honor of Kent's veterans.

Wayne Wilson, Kent City Council's liaison to the parks board, will ask the board to consider naming the new park to be built beneath the new Fairchild Avenue Bridge "Veterans' Memorial Park."

The idea came out of council's ad-hoc Veterans Memorial Committee, which held its first public meeting Wednesday — before council's regular meeting — to hear ideas from the public.

The only person to attend the ad-hoc committee meeting was Nancy Krestan, the mother of Adam Hamilton. Hamilton's death spurred the creation of the ad-hoc committee with the intent of exploring ways to honor Kent's fallen veterans and soldiers.

Krestan told the ad-hoc committee her son would have preferred a memorial dedicated to all the city's veterans rather than named specifically after him.

The new park is being built on the western bank of the Cuyahoga River as part of the Fairchild Avenue Bridge construction. The park will serve to extend The Portage Hike and Bike Trail, which currently stops at the east end of the Crain Avenue Bridge, south towards River Edge Park.

The parks board meets tonight at 7 p.m. at the Kent Parks office off Middlebury Road.

Related Topics: Veterans, fairchild avenue bridge, and new park