DELAWARE — Hickory Woods Park is one step closer to being the first Preservation Park inside Delaware’s city limits after city council approved a pre-annexation agreement with an emergency clause on Monday.
Preservation Parks seeks to annex the 101.92-acre park from Delaware Township, located on the east side of Pollock Road and the west side of Berlin Station Road, into the city due to a utility need.
“The reason that this came to be as a pre-annexation, and planned eventual annexation into the city, is [because] part of these improvements that they’re planning for Hickory Woods includes restrooms,” City Attorney David Moser said.
With the addition of restrooms, the park requires access to the city’s water.
Hickory Woods’ website alerts visitors that crews will construct a new shelter and playground in addition to the restrooms from May 1 to December 1.
“Speaking to the emergency provision — as is common with a lot of these developer agreements — they’re ready to go like, tomorrow,” Moser said.
“Given the short window of time where we have such nice weather, where they can actually start construction with these improvements, their timeline is kind of warranting an emergency.”
City Engineer Johnathan Owen confirmed that Preservation Parks will fully cover the sewer extension cost.
Owen also cleared up some of council’s confusion about Pollock Road responsibilities.
“As part of just the normal intergovernmental relations between the township and the county, any areas that are annexed within the city would be our cost to maintain,” he said.
Per the pre-annexation agreement, Preservation Parks will still maintain the park — not the city’s parks and recreation staff.
Price Farms pre-annexation
Council also approved the pre-annexation of Price Farms 2, a 175-acre lot south of Hills Miller Road and west of Troy Road, with the hopes of one day building a new Delaware city school there.
The city previously annexed Price Farms 1 — another 175-acre parcel — in January and rezoned it in March for residential development.
During discussion, Mayor Carolyn Kay Riggle asked whether the site could support a future school, noting that sewer capacity constraints have already limited how much housing can be built in the area.
Owen said those same limitations are what led the city to scale back development plans for Price Farms 1.
“That restriction still exists,” Owen said, adding the city has not committed to a timeline for expanding sewer capacity.
However, he said once those improvements are made, the area would be able to support a school.
