Land purchase to double park size
By Kevin Kelley
Fairview Park
Published June 3, 2009

The size of Nelson Russ Park will more than double once the city completes the purchase of 2.3 acres from three property owners for $64,000.

Ordinances authorizing the purchase of partial lots from three West 220th Street property owners had their second readings at Monday evening’s City Council meeting.

According to the ordinances, 61, 671 square feet will be purchased from Stephanie O. Duran for $37,000. The city will purchase 40,950 square feet from Joseph J. Schork for $25,000. St. Mary Magdalene Church will sell 10,544 square feet to the city for $2,000.

Money for the land will come from the city’s recreation fund.

The negotiations for the properties were fairly straightforward, according to Recreation Director Tim Pinchek. The prices paid were based on fair market value as determined by valuations listed on the county auditor’s Web site.

One of the landowners initiated the discussions after the city demolished the former recreation department building at the park last year, Pinchek said.

The land added to the park through the purchases will be used for soccer and football fields, Pinchek said.

“This will give Fairview Park a dedicated soccer-football complex that it never had before,” Pinchek told West Life.

Jack Abbruzzese, the recreation department’s youth program coordinator, said that the city has had a longstanding need for more soccer fields.

“It’s getting really congested over at Bohlken Park with the baseball and softball leagues,” Abbruzzese said.

One full-size high school soccer field and three or four youth-size football or soccer fields can fit on the 2.3 acres the city is purchasing, Pinchek said.

Pinchek said the expansion of Nelson Russ Park is a great opportunity for the city.

“It’s not often that you can double the size of a park in a city,” the recreation director said.

Pinchek said he expects the new soccer fields will be in use by the fall of 2010. Once the sale is completed, some preliminary work on the land should begin before the end of this summer, he added.

The city will fence in the newly acquired park land, Pinchek said. There are no plans to add any bleachers or lights to the planned soccer fields, he added.

Until the Gemini Center opened in January 2008, the city’s recreation department was headquartered at Russ Park in the former service garage of Parkview Village, the community that was annexed into Fairview Park in 1967. That building was demolished in the spring. Safety Town was also relocated from Russ Park to the northeast corner outside the Gemini Center this year.

Pinchek said the city would eventually like to add a playground at Russ Park near the location of the now-demolished building.

Nelson Russ Park, currently two acres in size and accessible off Macbeth Avenue, is named after one of the city’s first recreation directors, Pinchek said.

On the Web:

• Fairview Park Recreation Department