FOSTORIA, Ohio — The Seneca County Parks District has been growing since voters approved a 0.5 mill levy to support it in 2016.
Now, the district is looking to build a new facility to offer even more services.
"The people of Seneca County said 'We want a nature center," said Seneca Parks commissioner Lee Martin
After completing construction the Fruth Wetlands Nature Preserve in 2020, Seneca Parks knew the next step was to build a permanent nature center for the county.
The plan is to build a $1.1 million, 5,200-square-foot facility at the wetlands that will be the new base of operations for the park district as well as the home for outdoor programming.
"A lot of times, our programs are held outside because we don't have an indoor facility," Martin said. "In bad weather, that cuts down on the number of programs and number of people that attend those."
It will be the first new building for the district since it began collecting levy funding. It also will be the first county park facility that is fully ADA compliant.
"This is our first heated and air conditioned facility in the park district," said Seneca Parks Executive Director Sarah Betts. "And, very exciting, flushing restrooms, this is our first facility with those."
Half of the $1.1. million will come from the Tiffin Community Foundation and corporation funding.
Now, the district is asking for your donations, hoping to raise another $500,000 to fully fund the project that would finally bring both administration and programming offices under one roof.
"It will definitely make things more efficient. So we can work together and have meetings on a regular basis and communicate face to face," Betts said.
"We need to be outdoors more, we need our kids to be off of our devices more, they need to be in touch for our natural world. And this kind of building, and these kind of opportunities will give us the opportunity to do that," Martin said.
If all goes to plan, the hope is to break ground on this nature center this fall with the intention to have it open to the public next spring.
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