The news came in an announcement last month from U.S. Rep. Emilia Sykes and enables the start of a project that will run about a mile from the center to the nearby Tudor House and on to Manchester Road.
The visitors center is expected to be built near the popular Turkeyfoot Lake swimming area and will provide shelter and restroom facilities for the thousands who flock to the beach each year.
“It’s going to be a big deal,” Adamson said recently during an interview at the 411-acre state park.
New Franklin as recreation destination
As one of the county’s newest cities — Reminderville, in 2021, is the most recent — New Franklin has been trying to develop a recognizable identity since it became a city in 2006.
In the 2020 census, it contained 13,877 residents, many of whom still refer to the city they live in as Manchester.
Adamson said many area municipalities have readily identifiable characteristics that help attract residents and businesses.
Akron is an example of the staying power of such a recognizable identity; a half century after the peak of the rubber industry, the pliable material is still inextricably associated with the county’s largest city. Hudson is the settling place of the affluent, Cuyahoga Falls the home of Rex Humbard’s never-completed tower.
Portage Lakes State Park, Adamson said, may be the key both to establishing a recognizable — and marketable — feature of New Franklin and sparking commercial and residential growth that doesn’t damage the rural nature of the 26-square-mile city.
“We’re not going to get (big) manufacturing jobs out here,” he said. “(We’re) not going to get a plant with 150 employees.”
But with the state park, the Ohio & Erie Canal Towpath Trail, two golf courses — one in the city and one on the border with Green — a proposed event center and the increasingly popular Tudor House, the city could become known as the fun spot of the county.
“Recreation may be our primary industry,” he said.
Residents don’t want too much development
Adamson said a recent survey clearly demonstrated that residents want to maintain the rural feel of the city.
But residents also want more amenities like shopping and restaurants. A comprehensive plan presented Nov. 6 identified development along those lines as possible along Manchester and West Turkeyfoot Lake Roads.
If and when sewer and water becomes available.
Bringing water and sewer
A two-phased plan would eventually run all the way from the visitors center on Turkeyfoot Lake to the Barberton pumping station.
The city has been working on finding funds for the estimated $18.8 million cost, with the $960,000 announced last month helping fund a 1-mile chunk of the project.
Tying sewer to the Barberton treatment plant would allow development of some of the commercial businesses residents want and some residential development, probably targeted for the city’s older population who want to scale down but remain in the city.
Portage Lakes Park Visitors Center timeline
Adamson said the planned visitors center project isn’t that far off.
“ODNR wants to have this constructed by the end of next year,” he said.
He said the center will make the park even more of a destination spot for area residents.
“There’s an overwhelming number of people who come here because this is their vacation, who don’t have the entertainment dollar (to go elsewhere),” he said. “It’s about time we got something nice like this in New Franklin.”
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Leave a message for Alan Ashworth at 330-996-3859 or email him at aashworth@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @newsalanbeaconj or Facebook at www.facebook.com/alan.newsman.
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: ‘Recreation may be our primary industry,’ says New Franklin mayor