Ohio Department of Natural Resources Receives $2,389,648 Grant for Gordon Park

CHICAGO, Ill.—The U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) announced today that $2,389,648 has been made available to the Ohio Department Of Natural Resources in federal disaster aid.

On October 29-30, 2012, strong winds, heavy rainfall and storm surge associated with Hurricane Sandy caused severe damages to Gordon Park. FEMA grant funding is being made available as part of recovery efforts in response to President Obama’s federal disaster declaration of January 3, 2013, as a result of the October storms.

“Ensuring that essential services are restored and facilities are repaired is part of our continuing commitment to help the residents of Ohio recover from this disaster,” said FEMA Region V Administrator, Andrew Velasquez III.

Gordon Park is a public park owned by the city of Cleveland.  The city leases the park to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources.  The park was opened in 1893 and is situated on 122 acres of land adjacent to Lake Erie.

As sub-grantee, the Ohio Department of Natural Resources plans to restore the park to its pre-disaster design, function and capacity. The grant will cover labor, equipment and materials to repair aluminum handrail pieces and posts, steel inspection plates, a concrete sidewalk and shoreline protection.  

Under Public Assistance Program funding, which will be administered by Ohio Emergency Management Agency (OEMA), FEMA provides a 75 percent federal share of eligible reimbursable expenses for this project. The federal share of the FEMA grant will provide $1,792,236 with the remaining $597,412 paid by the state and applicant. 

FEMA’s Public Assistance Program provides funding to local government jurisdictions and eligible private non-profits for the repair, replacement, or restoration of disaster-damaged infrastructure as well as costs incurred for debris removal, disaster cleanup and emergency actions taken to protect lives or property. The federal share of recovery costs is 75 percent. The remaining share is the responsibility of the state and local government or non-profit organization.

FEMA’s mission is to support our citizens and first responders to ensure that as a nation we work together to build, sustain, and improve our capability to prepare for, protect against, respond to, recover from, and mitigate all hazards. Follow FEMA online at twitter.com/femaregion5, www.facebook.com/fema, and www.youtube.com/fema.  Also, follow Administrator Craig Fugate’s activities at twitter.com/craigatfema. The social media links provided are for reference only. FEMA does not endorse any non-government websites, companies or applications.

FEMA Contact:   Cassie Ringsdorf, (312) 408-4455

OEMA Contact:  Tamara McBride, (614) 799-3695

###