PERRYSBURG — Wood County’s most glorious park is years away from opening, but planning — which may
include a new operating levy — is starting now.
At a Feb. 19 special meeting, the Wood County Park District board talked about the 168-acre Pratt
property that will be donated sometime in the future. It’s located on Hull Prairie and Roachton roads in
Perrysburg.
The Pratt property is surrounded by housing subdivisions and a school.
“This area has just exploded. … This is going to be a green island,” Director Neil Munger said of the
future park.
Denny Parish, who is the senior member on the five-member park board, said the Pratts decided to donate
the property to the district because of its plan to keep it green and open.
“We talked about putting in a huge, huge water feature. Dig it out and make a lake if you can. Take the
dirt and sculpt the land into hills and valleys, make a big snow hill,” Parish said. “To do that, we
figured it would cost $4-$5 million.”
That was a few years ago, too, he said, adding that the cost may be more now.
The park district has a 1-mill, 10-year levy that was last renewed in 2018 and generates $3.3 million
annually.
A new levy will probably be needed to develop the Pratt property, Parish said.
“If we do indeed end up with the Pratt property, we’re going to need those kinds of funds,” he said. “We
are on a strict budget.”
Board member Tom Myers said a levy could be sold to taxpayers if you can tell them what they’re going to
do with it.
“This would instantly be the second largest park in Wood County,” Parish said. “There’s no question, if
we build it and do it right, it will probably be the most popular park we have.”
Bradner Preserve is the largest county park at 230 total acres, bought in three different purchases.
The Pratt property donation includes the family home and two out buildings. The house may be the eventual
location of the park district headquarters.
“The house is beautiful. It’s huge. They’ve added on to it three or four times,” Munger said.
Doug and Mary Ellen Pratt, who do not have children, still live there and still farm, Parish said.
Munger is going to arrange for the board to meet the Pratts and see the property this summer.
According to a 2016 Sentinel-Tribune article when the Pratt property donation was announced, the
homestead has been in the family for 200 years. The couple will continue to live on the property until
it’s turned over to the park district as part of their will.
Also at the special park board meeting, Munger talked about the criteria for acquiring property for a new
county park.
“We’re always looking for land adjacent to our existing park facilities,” he said. “We have to look at
how thin we’re spreading ourselves.”
This type of planning has led to the expansions at William Henry Harrison Park in Pemberville and the
Bradner Preserve.
“Another one is looking at land with unique characteristics. It might be land on a river, it might be
wetlands,” Munger said.
Sawyer Quarry in Perrysburg Township is another unusual park, he said. The Chessie Circle Trail, also in
Perrysburg, was purchased in 2011 as an opportunity, he added.
Eventually it will connect with other trails owned by the City of Toledo, University of Toledo and
MetroParks Toledo.
“We all own our own sections of the trail. Our park, obviously, will probably be the last to be
developed, because to be able to develop it, we have to get the bridge across the river,” Munger said.

The North Coast Inland Trail that comes into Millbury is another trail that the park district would like
to develop.
Another prospect is Holcomb Woods, southeast of Bowling Green, off U.S. 6.
“It’s the largest contiguous woods left in Wood County,” Munger said, adding that it will be a challenge
to purchase it.
“It’s owned by six different people,” Parish said.
Anytime that they go to look at a specific property, they take a representative of each park district
department and “score” it, Munger said.
“We’ve had a lot of different things that have been offered to us that we’ve had to turn down,” he said.
“We’re kind of picky about what we look at.”