EDITOR’S NOTE: This is one in a series looking at what Northeast Ohio communities, school districts and organizations experienced in 2024 and what is facing them in 2025. Perry Village completed projects in 2024 that included paving part of a major street and adding a new section to its dog park. Mayor James Gessic provided a summary of the village’s significant accomplishments for the year that just ended and top goals for 2025. During the summer, the village paved a 0.84-mile stretch of Main Street between Center Street and the village’s western limits. The village used American Rescue Plan Act funding to pay for the resurfacing endeavor. Perry Village also has applied Ohio Public Works Commission funding for two future projects: • Improving storm sewers on Center Road, Thompson Street and Green Street. The total project cost is anticipated to be about $503,000, Village Engineer Robert Parker said. • Green Street widening and resurfacing. This initiative calls for widening Green Street to meet current standards, repair distressed pavement and pave the entire width of Green Street from Thompson Street to Manchester Road. The total project cost is estimated at about $668,000, Parker said. OPWC funding will be finalized in the spring, with money available in state fiscal year 2026, which begins July 1. “If funds are awarded to Perry Village, the drainage project will begin in late summer and the paving project will begin in the spring of 2026,” Parker said. Last year, the Perry Village Parks Committee also began taking steps to obtain grant funding for the construction of pickleball courts. “We are currently gathering the data needed for the grant application, which is due in early spring,” said committee member Ashley Hacking. The village is preparing to apply for an Ohio Department of Natural Resources NatureWorks 30 grant. If the grant is approved, funding would be used to construct pickleball courts at Lee Lydic Park “to meet the growing recreational demand for this popular sport,” said Hacking, who also is a member of Village Council. The project would include the installation of two regulation-sized pickleball courts, complete with fencing, seating and Americans with Disabilities Act-accessible pathways. Meanwhile, village government also welcomed an administrator to its leadership team in 2024. Christian Gray began serving as the community’s zoning inspector in late June. He took over the part-time position previously held by Harley DeLeon, who resigned in mid-March. Gray also is employed full-time as a project manager for Marous Brothers Construction of Willoughby. “I consider myself a construction specialist,” he said, during the Aug. 8 Village Council meeting. Gray noted in his resume that he’s gained experience in the zoning and permit-approval process through his position with Marous Brothers. For Perry Village’s mayor, a key project that began in 2024 and has carried over into the new year involves negotiating the sale of property. The village has entered into an agreement to sell its section of the Champion Farm property to a real estate development and investment company that’s based in California. Province Group — New Equities LLC is planning to build a data center on the village’s portion of the former horticultural nursery. The Champion Farm property stretches from the south side of the 3700 block of Route 20, or North Ridge Road, in Perry Township nearly to the 3700 block of Main Street in Perry Village. Province Group, of Newport Beach, signed an agreement with Perry Village to buy its portion of the property, which totals about 163 acres, for $8,435,000. The purchase agreement contains a due diligence period of more than two years for the prospective buyer. A due diligence period is a time frame during which the buyer is able to fully analyze and evaluate the property they are purchasing before deciding on whether to proceed with the transaction. Gessic said negotiations aimed at completing the sale of the property are “still ongoing.” In 2024, people who visited Lee Lydic Park got to enjoy the site of a new native wildflower pollinator meadow. The meadow has added natural beauty to the park, located at 3954 Call Road, and provided a place for creatures that play a role in the vital task of pollination. Last year marked the first full season for the meadow to display plants and flowers such as black-eyed Susans, goldenrods, asters, partridge peas, boneset, bidens and coreopsis. Pam Jenkins, a member of the village Parks Committee, spearheaded efforts in the summer of 2023 to prepare soil for the meadow, which is situated on the south side of the park, near the community garden and playground. The meadow was planted in November 2023. A meadow is an ecosystem composed of one or more plant communities dominated by herbaceous species, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service. In addition, meadows support plants “that use surface water and/or shallow groundwater, generally at depths of less than 3 feet,” the Forest Service stated. Also last year, Perry Village expanded its dog park at Lee Lydic Park. A separate section was installed for small dogs. The new fenced-in addition will make it possible for small dogs to be able play and socialize strictly with similar-sized canines. “We’ll probably do an opening ceremony (for the new section of the dog park) in the spring,” Gessic said. This year, Perry Village government officials will be keeping track of several infrastructure projects that Lake County either will or could be starting in the village. First, Gessic said that the county will be replacing a bridge on Manchester Road. He also said the Lake County Utilities Department is supposed to be replacing an existing waterline on Green Street that has experienced a number of breaks in the last few years. Gessic said Perry Village wants to coordinate its efforts with the county on the Green Road projects, so the waterline can be installed before that same thoroughfare is paved.