The City of Newark, the Licking County Foundation and the Licking County Family YMCA have partnered to enhance the amenities and activities at Flory Park to provide more opportunities for the community to gather with an emphasis on youth recreation. Planned improvements for creating a more vibrant neighborhood park will include an expanded bike park and a new disc golf course. The public is invited to view these plans and offer input on Thursday, May 3, 2018 at 6:30 pm at Flory Park (650 W. Church St., Newark in the education center). Ideas for naming the bike park and disc golf course will also be collected.
The master plan was developed by Newark-based engineering firm, ADR Associates, Ltd. The design for the bike park was created in consultation with Columbus-based bike park designers and builders, Craig Billingsley and Michael Rausch. Craig Billingsley is the former owner of The Flow Skatepark (Columbus, Ohio). His other past projects include Mike’s Indoor Bike Park (Dayton, Ohio), Woodward Park PA (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania), and collaborations with Red Bull. Input from former and current Flory Park BMX riders also informed the bike park’s upgrade which will include: a BMX dirt jump area, a BMX pump track, and a half-mile mountain bike loop.
The nine-hole disc golf course will span most of Flory Park and traverse Raccoon Creek. It will be the second course created by the City of Newark’s Parks and Recreation Department, in addition to the River View Disc Golf Course at Everett Park. Flory Park’s course design will feature longer holes to provide greater challenges for more advanced disc golfers, while still being accessible for players of all skill levels.
The goal is to break ground in late spring with installation completed in early summer 2018. The budget for the project is $138,000. Generous support provided by: the Constance C. Baldwin Fund of the Licking County Foundation, the City of Newark, the Flory Park Fund of the Licking County Foundation, Licking County Family YMCA, McCullough’s Tree Service, and the Patricia R. and Herbert J. Murphy Foundation.
