Who takes care of the Heritage Trail between Merchant Park and Main Street? For now, the answer is the City of Hilliard. On Sept. 28, Hilliard City Council voted 7–0 on a single ordinance that did three things. It moved 69 acres of city land to Columbus and Franklin County Metro Parks. It allowed M/I Homes to transfer some of its land to the park system. And it approved a memorandum of understanding that lets Metro Parks maintain and patrol certain trails.
The headline number was the acreage. Homestead Metro Park at 4675 Cosgray Road had been a 44-acre park with a pond, a train station replica, a caboose, two pavilions and a paved trail of about three-quarters of a mile. It is now listed at 376 acres, close to eight times its old size. But most of that new ground is headed for prairie and wetland restoration on a schedule nobody has committed to. The part of the vote closest to your daily routine is the paved path you may already walk, bike or push a stroller on.
The new acreage came out of the neighborhoods around it
The 333 acres were never one farm waiting to become a park. The city built them up over time from open space that developers had to set aside. In 2023, Hilliard City Council set a policy that 70% of the land in new developments must stay open space. The city's release notes that the standard in other Big Darby Accord communities is 50%. According to 10TV, the city said development agreements required housing developers to set this land aside as greenspace, and Metro Parks is getting it at no cost.
| Where the land came from | Development or parcel | Detail |
|---|---|---|
| M/I Homes | Hill Farm and Hill Farm II | The city credits these two developments with assembling much of the land |
| Fischer Homes / Grand Communities | Clover Meadows | About 35 acres near Clover Groff Run, southwest of the park, approved in June |
| Pulte Homes and Rockford Homes | Tarlton Meadows | Conservation open space set aside under the development agreement |
| City of Hilliard | 4643 Elliott Road and land off Barbeau Lane | 46.621 and 23.058 acres, conserved for Tarlton Meadows |
Taken together, the expansion links the original park to hundreds of acres north of the housing along Scioto Darby Creek Road. The Barbeau Lane parcel is still moving. Part of it holds the Orangeberry Water Tower, and the draft agreement sets a Dec. 31, 2026 deadline for transferring the rest of it after a lot split. This deadline covers paperwork only. It is not a construction date.
Because the parkland was assembled this way, it runs along the edges of the neighborhoods that created it. The city's release says the land is already connected by shared-use paths. Those paths are what the ordinance's trail agreement covers.
The trail clause reaches all the way to Main Street
The memorandum lists the trails Metro Parks will take on:
i. The remainder of the Heritage Trail south of Hayden Run Road, approximately 2.4 miles, including the section between Merchant Park and Main Street
ii. The existing trail that extends west from Homestead Metro Park through the Estates at Hoffman Farms, Tarlton Meadows, and Hill Farms subdivisions to Scioto Darby Creek Road.
Metro Parks lists the Heritage Trail at 6.1 miles. Once the agreement takes effect, roughly 2.4 of those miles will sit, including the stretch through Downtown Hilliard, under the same agency that runs Homestead. NBC4 reported that Metro Parks would pick up routine maintenance and patrol costs on these trails. The city and Metro Parks will keep coordinating on major construction and renovation where trails cross city-owned land.
The agreement is specific about boundaries. Metro Parks' duties cover the trail itself plus a buffer of about 10 feet on each side of the pavement, for maintenance, resource management, safety and security. It leaves out private trails linking subdivisions to the city system, other public trails in Hilliard's local network, on-street bike lanes and bicycle boulevards, and unpaved connector paths. So if the path behind your street feeds into the Heritage Trail but isn't one of the two named routes, it stays under city care.
You'll also see the change on signs. The two agencies agreed to create a wayfinding plan for every trail in the agreement, covering key destinations, mile markers, sign locations and sign specifications. More trails can be added later if both sides agree. That matters because the city has called extending the Heritage Trail to Hilliard's southern boundary, with links toward Quarry Trails Metro Park and downtown Columbus, a longtime priority.
The new ground will be quieter, and no one has set a date for it
The expanded land is meant to look and work differently from the original Homestead. The city's release says the playground-and-pavilion core will keep its current recreation. The new land will lean toward conservation and quieter time in nature, with wetlands, native prairie and forest. Boardwalks and natural-surface trails are described as possibilities. Metro Parks Executive Director Tim Moloney told 10TV to expect prairies, "probably some reforestation, probably redevelopment of wetlands that were there long before the farmers came in."
On timing, Moloney told 10TV that restoration would start this fall and take a couple of years. NBC4 reported that neither agency gave a timeline for the improvements. Restoration is expected to begin this season, and no opening date has been set.
The reason for the restoration approach is where the land sits. It is in the Big Darby watershed, a 556-square-mile area around Big Darby Creek. Hilliard joined other central Ohio communities in signing the Big Darby Accord in 2006 to protect it. A replacement for that agreement has been proposed but not yet approved by every member municipality. With this addition, Metro Parks says it has now preserved more than 10,000 acres in the Darby watershed.
Homestead as it stands this October
The Homestead you can visit right now is still the original core. Fall and winter hours run from Oct. 1 to March 31, 6:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. The paved, ADA-accessible Multiuse Trail loops around the main activity area and connects to the Heritage Trail. Metro Parks lists it at 0.8 mile in one spot and 0.75 mile in another. Besides the covered bridge, train station replica and two barns, the park has a 2.5-acre fishing pond. Lakeside Pavilion sits at the north end beside Homestead Lake. It has two fireplaces, a balcony over the pond and a playground nearby.
Dogs and cats are allowed on the loop, in picnic areas, in parking lots and on park roads, on a leash no longer than 6 feet. Homestead isn't on Metro Parks' list of sledding parks, so on snow days the closest sled hill is at Battelle Darby Creek.
A dated October around the park
Homestead's own calendar is mostly for small kids. The bigger nature programs are at Battelle Darby Creek, which is in the same watershed the new land is joining.
- Tuesday, Oct. 6, 10 a.m. Toddler Tuesday: Leaves! at Homestead's Barn Shelter. It's aimed at ages 2 to 4, and all ages are welcome.
- Friday, Oct. 16, 7 p.m. Night Hike at Battelle Darby Creek's Indian Ridge, all ages, no registration needed.
- Saturday, Oct. 17, noon to 4 p.m. RidgeFest at Glacier Ridge, with games, hay rides, archery and food vendors.
- Wednesday, Oct. 21, 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. Preschool: Animal Ears at Homestead.
- Saturday, Oct. 24, morning and evening. Downtown Hilliard's free Halloween Haunt runs 9 to 11 a.m. along Main Street and at Hilliard's Station Park. That evening, Homestead's Halloween Party starts at 5:30 p.m. at Lakeside Pavilion, rain or shine, with caramel apples, pumpkin decorating and a screening of Pixar's Coco. Bring chairs or blankets. The event page lists the party running until 9:30 p.m., but Metro Parks' listings don't all agree on the end time, so check before you go.
- Monday, Oct. 26, 6 to 8 p.m. Full Moon Hike at Battelle Darby Creek's Cedar Ridge, all ages.
If you take the Heritage Trail from Main Street to Homestead on Oct. 24, you'll cover the full length of what this ordinance changes, from the downtown stretch the agreement assigns to Metro Parks to the pond at the north end of the park.
At The Shoaf Team, we keep track of how changes like this one affect daily life in western Hilliard, from trail connections to the open space that new neighborhoods bring with them. If you'd like to talk through what it means for your street, schedule a free consultation with us.
