Half of Geauga Lake Complex May Become a Public Park One Day

© City of Aurora Ohio

I saw this story forever ago (okay, it was June) and then lost track of it for a while but still want to cover it a bit here.  Mostly because the long story of Geauga Lake continues to go on even in current day, somehow.  

 

The mayor of the City of Aurora, Ohio, wants to purchase Geauga Lake (the lake itself) and 40 or so acres that was originally Sea World Ohio and later Wildwater Kingdom under Cedar Fair ownership.  The city has a page up about the plan here, and it made some news when it was announced.  Sadly, nothing has happened since, but more on that in a bit.

© City of Aurora Ohio

The City would purchase the land from Industrial Commercial Properties for about $4.5 million.  I'm guessing the developer couldn't get anything going on the site, so it decided it would sell the land cheap to the city.  Some houses we built adjacent to the water park's old parking lot, and a new car dealership along North Aurora Road, but not much else has changed per recent aerials.

The city would make the property a public park, utilize the old wave pool to be a pool once again, add docks for non-motorized boats, have pavilions to rent, restrooms and other facilities and walking trails.  The developer would also build a trail that completely goes around the lake, and then give that to the city to own and maintain as well.  It sounds like a really nice park option for residents, and a great way to get access to the lake again since the parks closed.

© City of Aurora Ohio

It is a pretty neat idea, considering this is how the old water park still looks today - just crumbling ruins and mostly bulldozed.  

So this plan was announced back in June when the mayor presented it to city council, but then no vote on the plan (essentially giving the mayor the go-ahead to buy the land and get things started) was done at the time.  Then no vote was taken again at the next meeting, then it was formally postponed at July and August's meetings.  So, it's a standstill for now.  But perhaps one day things will get moving again.