Erie County Department of Parks, Recreation & Forestry celebrates 2025 accomplishments systemwide

Over $6.2 million in capital projects for 2025 largely complete; significant enhancements at Isle View, Wendt Beach complement investments at Seneca Bluffs, new Willowdale Park

Submitted by the Press Secretary to the Erie County Executive

The Erie County Department of Parks, Recreation and Forestry is wrapping up a lengthy list of 2025 capital projects across the system, with improvements of all types completed or substantially done. Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz joined Deputy Commissioner of Parks James McDonald and parks personnel at Isle View Park in Tonawanda to review the year’s work and talk about what lies ahead.

“Our Parks Department has had a busy and productive year, with projects big and small being completed all across the county. Much of this work was made possible through targeted investment of American Rescue Plan funding, so I thank former President Biden, Congressman Higgins and the then-Democratic Congress for approving this funding to improve communities across the nation,” Poloncarz said. “Just like we benefit from the Franklin D. Roosevelt administration’s WPA investments in our Parks during the 1930s, these are investments that county residents will be able to enjoy for generations, long after we are gone.”

Commissioner of Parks, Recreation and Forestry Troy P. Schinzel added, “This has been a busy year for our department, and the results are showing systemwide. These are improvements to amenities and infrastructure that will provide better experiences for all park users today and improve our park areas for use in the future.”

Over $6.2 million in capital projects have been conducted across the county parks system in 2025. Some of the notable projects at each park include:

•Chestnut Ridge Park: sensory walkway project ($215,000), culvert replacement and roadway work ($525,000)

•Como Lake Park: five new shelter pads, large shelter project reusing WPA stones and including a new parking lot, drainage, site work ($549,000)

•Ellicott Creek Park: cold storage building ($215,000), restroom “C” renovations ($328,000)

•Elma Meadows: all six shelters upgraded ($100,000), bunker repairs/culvert repairs ($57,000), pond retaining wall repairs ($80,000), cart paths phase 2 ($200,000)

•Forestry Management plan: update 2003 FMP ($149,370)

•Grover Cleveland GC: tennis court resurfacing and addition of pickle ball ($20,110), pond project to help drainage/reduce flooding ($68,000), restoration of all bunkers ($190,000)

•Isle View Park: major enhancements park wide, substantially complete by YE 2025 ($4.2 million)

•Seneca Bluffs Natural Habitat Area: new parking lot and entranceway improvements ($1.45 million)

•Sprague Brook Park: paving, striping, sealing of parking lots ($150,000)

•Times Beach Nature Preserve: FEMA project to remove old boardwalk (DASNY funding as a match), and to replace fencing along Fuhrman Boulevard/border of Wilkinson Point ($500,000)

•Wendt Beach Park: sewer line and culvert replacement project ($514,000), maintenance building renovations ($145,000), removal of dilapidated caretaker house ($55,000), repairs to the historic Wendt mansion ($3.19 million)

•Willowdale Park: renovations to the original nine-hole golf course ($3 million)

•Systemwide investments: phase II of exterior signage plan ($537,456).

For more information on the Department of Parks, Recreation and Forestry, visit https://www3.erie.gov/parks/.