MANSFIELD, Ohio — Mansfield City Council will consider a proposal to grant a conservation easement on portions of John Todd Park. The easement would go to the North Central Ohio Land Conservancy Inc. and the Richland County Park District Board.
During Tuesday’s council meeting, Eric Miller, president of the North Central Ohio Land Conservancy, explained why this conservation easement is significant.
“Back when John Todd Park was given to the city as a park, people appreciated it as a wooded ravine, but there was no way to put a conservation easement on the land at the time,” he said. “There was no statute that allowed that. There was no Ohio law that allowed you to restrict and protect real estate for purposes of conservation.”
He said there’s language in the deed urging the city to preserve the natural beauty of the land.
“They didn’t want to try and make it binding because it could have arguably invalidated the deed,” Miller said. “There is no way under Ohio law that you could do back then in the 1940s what you can do today, which is legally disable the city from timbering that land.
“When we talk about conservation easement, you just need to think in terms of a deed restriction. And the way the statute works is you would execute this deed restriction in the form of an easement. And there has to be a party that holds the easement and in this case we’ve presented to you the Richland County Park District and the North Central Ohio Land Conservancy, who would be co-holders of the conservation easement.”
It’s still the city’s land, he noted.
“But we would be there to enforce the prohibition against timbering the land,” he said.
The easement applies to the ravine portion of the park, which is roughly 14 acres. It does not affect the baseball diamond, the playground area or the shelter, Miller said.
“The reason why we’re asking the city to do this with regard to John Todd Park is that place is a gem,” he said.
He believes the park’s ravine may hold the tallest trees in the county.
“I can also say with some degree of certainty that we’ve got the largest population of crinkleroot, not just in the county, but probably in a multi-county region,” he said.
Crinkleroot, he said, is a spring ephemeral flower that thrives in heavily wooded areas.
“Within that ravine, because it’s been largely undisturbed, you’ve got an excellent overall population of spring ephemeral flowers, so if you’re as nuts about the spring ephemeral flowers as I am, it’s a great place to walk,” he said.
One of the greatest immediate threats to the park is the invasive plants that were brought over from Asia years ago and are reproducing without any natural enemies. Miller said volunteers have invested their own money and time to get rid of the invasive plants.
“John Todd Park needs additional investment and we’re ready to raise the money and focus our volunteers on doing that, but we’d like to see a corresponding commitment from the city,” he said.
Lynn Brinley, great-granddaughter of John Todd, questioned why the city doesn’t govern the easement.
“I just don’t want the city to put their control over (the park) into someone else’s hands,” she said.
In response to her concern, Council President Phil Scott said, “(The city) still controls it. We still own it.”
Sewer ordinance
In a 7-1 vote, council approved legislation that will raise Mansfield property owners’ sewer rates.
The sewer portion of property owners’ utility bill will increase 18 percent in 2016, 2017 and 2018, then 10 percent in 2019 and then 3 percent annually thereafter.
“This rate increase only affects the sewer portion of the bill, which represents about 55 percent of the entire utility bill, the other part being water,” Engineer Bob Bianchi said. “Water rates will not increase as a part of this legislation.”
The cumulative increase would be approximately 9.7 percent in 2016. So, if a citizen’s utility bill averages $30 a month, for example, the bill would increase by $2.91.
