Danger Signs Coming to Miller Road Park?

Following the of a 23-year-old at , city officials are looking to add additional signs to Miller Road Park notifying visitors of potential dangers

unanimously approved legislation drafted by Councilman Rob James that would authorize the mayor, as the head of the safety committee, to add new signs to the park.

“The mayor will determine the language and placement of signs in the park,” James said.

Exactly what the signs will say or where they will be placed has yet to be determined. There have been numerous drownings over the years. The week before the drowning, an Avon Lake woman and a Coast Guard supervisor

James said the area is a sat place to fish, boat and bring your family, but noted the area near the power plant, which is owned by , is not safe, and it’s important that visitors to the park are aware of the area. 

“It’s going to be something we can do right now,” he said. “We’ll be looking at signs at other parks as well.”

Councilwoman Jennifer Fenderbosch agreed Miller Road Park itself is a safe place but supported the move.

“I applaud this first step,” she said. “I have met with the fire chief who strongly is in favor of a map going up showing where the problem areas are.”

Fenderbosch said the area by GenOn is not a riptide, but the currents were the result of up to 330,000 gallons of water per minute that flow from the site.

“There needs to be signage to alerting people to that,” she said.

Councilman John Shondel, who has only lived in the town for about six year said he was surprised it’s taken this long to “identify this potential hazard for what it is, and not just the usual ‘swim at your own risk.’”

Not everyone thought that adding more signs was the answer.

Councilman Larry Meiners said people in Avon Lake avoid the area and noted none of the victims were from Avon Lake.

“We just know how terrible that park is,” Meiners said. “You can’t legislate what people do.

“People in Avon Lake know not to go near Miller Road Park.”

Mayor Greg Zilka disagreed and said the beach was safe as long as people stayed away from the area that was marked as dangerous.

“We have to have an effort to label the area,” he said.