Highland Heights Council Making Gazebo a Priority

Highland Heights City Council plans to get prices on gazebos soon in hopes of getting one installed this year.

Council's Committee of the Whole met Tuesday to discuss two site plans for green space near city hall where the gazebo, community gardens and playground would be located. Landscape architect Douglas Nemeckay prepared the plans, one of which used the existing parking lot that had been used for the church that was at the site. The other addressed the space as a clean slate.

"Both concepts incorporate what we talked about," Mayor Scott Coleman said. "I think it looks good."

Both plans have a gazebo in the middle of the property as the focal point of the park.

"I think the gazebo is going to be a very dominant statement on the site," Nemeckay said.

The Highland Heights Lions Club plans to contribute to the cost of the gazebo in honor of the organization's 50th anniversary this year. That's also why council members want to get going on that part of the project.

"I know we want to move forward on the gazebo this year," Council President Scott Mills said. "Time is of the essence."

Lions club members envisioned a rectangular structure that would be placed in a corner of the property so the audience can be in front rather than surrounding the gazebo. Nemeckay has an octagon-shaped gazebo in the center with green space all around, but said there is plenty of room for viewing on any one side.

The gazebo is basically in the same spot in both plans. Parking is the main difference between the proposals, with one using the existing lot and the other eliminating it in favor of additional parking near the community center and 17 spaces off the main driveway, across from parking for the police station.

"It wouldn't be designed this way from the onset," Nemeckay said of the plan utilizing the existing lot, which would not be convenient for access to the garden and playground at the back end of the site, furthest from Highland Road.

Removing that lot also would free up 17,000 square feet of space at the front of the property, Nemeckay said.

"That's a lot of green space we're giving up," Councilman Robert Mastrangelo said. "I still think you have to look long term on this."

However, most council members seemed to favor using the lot that's there rather than paying to demolish it, convert that area to soil and building a parking lot elsewhere.

"It's cost prohibitive," Mills said.