Where does Homestead Metro Park end? For years it ended at the edge of the pond, a little past the covered bridge, where the paved loop curves back toward the parking lot on Cosgray Road. As of Sept. 28, 2026, the answer is a lot farther west, and most of the new land was never a single property anyone sold. It was pieced together from the open space the subdivisions around the park were required to leave untouched.
Hilliard City Council voted 7-0 at its Sept. 28 regular meeting to send 333 acres of city-owned and private land to Columbus and Franklin County Metro Parks. The Columbus Dispatch reported that the transfer grows the 44-acre park at 4675 Cosgray Road by nearly eightfold. The park you know stays the same. What changes is what sits behind it.
The park as it stands this fall
Most Hilliard residents know Homestead for its small-town props. Metro Parks' Homestead page lists a covered bridge, a replica train station, two barns, a 2.5-acre fishing pond, two play areas, basketball and sand volleyball courts, the reservable Lakeside Pavilion, and Pine Pavilion, which is first-come, first-served. The Dispatch adds a caboose to that list.
The walking loop is short. Metro Parks gives it as a 0.8-mile paved, ADA-accessible multiuse loop in one section and 0.75 miles in the pet section, where the rule is a leash no longer than six feet. For anyone who wants more distance, the loop connects to the 6.1-mile Heritage Rail Trail.
That connection matters more now. Until this vote, Homestead worked as a destination: you drove in, played, walked a lap and left. The expansion turns it into a starting point.
One housekeeping note: the Metro Parks page now lists Homestead at 376 acres. That is roughly the old 44 acres plus the new 333. Most of that land is not open for visitors yet, so on a walk this month the park will look the way it always has.
How 333 acres got put together
The city didn't buy a farm. Hilliard's Sept. 14 announcement traces the land to a 2023 council policy requiring 70% of land in new developments to stay open space. Other communities in the Big Darby Accord use a 50% standard. Through that rule and development agreements, the city gathered land from four builders' projects: M/I Homes' Hill Farm and Hill Farm II, Fischer Homes' Clover Meadows, and Pulte Homes and Rockford Homes' Tarlton Meadows.
The council memo that went with the vote breaks the pieces down.
- City-owned land next to Homestead and the Heritage Trail: 46.621 acres at 4643 Elliott Road and 23.058 acres off Barbeau Lane. The city is keeping a 2.244-acre split around its water tower.
- Hill Farm and Hill Farm II open space from M/I Homes, including the headwaters of Clover Groff Run.
- About 35 acres at Clover Meadows, southwest of the park near Clover Groff Run. Council approved that transfer separately in June.
The Dispatch describes the Sept. 28 action as a single ordinance with three parts. It sends 69 acres of city land directly to Metro Parks, allows M/I Homes to transfer some of its land, and sets up a memorandum of understanding for trail upkeep. Under the memo's terms, the remaining Barbeau Lane acreage is due to transfer on or before Dec. 31, 2026.
Because the land came together this way, the new parkland isn't one block of acreage behind the barns. It runs through and between the neighborhoods west of Cosgray Road.
The trails that tie it together
The trail agreement shows best how the pieces connect. Under the memorandum, Metro Parks will maintain and patrol about 2.4 miles of the Heritage Trail south of Hayden Run Road. It will also take over the connector that runs from Homestead through Estates at Hoffman Farms, Tarlton Meadows and Hill Farm to Scioto Darby Creek Road.
The Dispatch describes the expansion as connecting the park to hundreds of acres north of the housing developments along Scioto Darby Creek Road. The city says the land is already linked by shared-use paths.
If you live along that corridor, the path you already walk past is now part of the Metro Parks system. If you live elsewhere in Hilliard, the paved loop at Homestead is your way in.
A different kind of park on the other side of the loop
The new acreage won't get more pavilions and courts. The city's announcement says Homestead will keep its current recreation, while the new land will focus on conservation and quieter time outdoors. Metro Parks' vision includes wetlands, native prairies and forests, possibly with boardwalks and natural-surface trails.
Metro Parks executive director Tim Moloney described the work to 10TV in plain terms. "You're going to see some prairies developed, probably some reforestation, probably redevelopment of wetlands that were there long before the farmers came in," he said.
The reason for that approach is the location. All of this land sits in the Big Darby Creek watershed. 10TV notes that The Nature Conservancy calls the watershed one of the most biologically diverse aquatic systems in the Midwest. The city says Metro Parks will naturalize the land in line with best practices for the watershed.
| Homestead today | The new acreage | |
|---|---|---|
| Size | 44 acres, per the Dispatch | 333 acres |
| Surfaces | Paved loop, about 0.75 to 0.8 miles | Natural-surface trails and boardwalks under consideration |
| Features | Covered bridge, train station replica, barns, pond, play areas, courts, pavilions | Wetlands, native prairie, forest |
| Emphasis | Active recreation | Conservation and quieter time outdoors |
| Status | Open | Restoration expected to start this fall |
When you'll actually see the change
There is no public opening date for the new land. Moloney told 10TV that restoration of the prairies, wetlands and forest would begin this fall and take a couple of years to finish. The Dispatch cites a Sept. 15 social media video in which he gave the same couple-of-years estimate for wetlands, trails and prairies. NBC4 reported before the vote that neither agency had shared a timeline, and the official city and Metro Parks pages still don't list a schedule.
The realistic expectation for the next few months is work, not new trails. The first visible signs will probably be restoration on the land, while the paved loop, the pond and the pavilions keep running as usual.
Oct. 24 is the easiest day to stop by
For now, the best reason to go is the park as it is, and the busiest night on its fall calendar comes in a little over two weeks.
- Halloween Party at Homestead, Saturday, Oct. 24, 5:30 to 9:30 p.m. at Lakeside Pavilion. Metro Parks lists pumpkin decorating, fall activities and caramel apples. The listing doesn't give an admission price.
- Outdoor Movie Night: Coco, the same night from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m., free according to Metro Parks' listing.
The same Saturday begins downtown. Destination Hilliard lists Halloween Haunt from 9 to 11 a.m. along Main Street and at Hilliard's Station Park, a free family event with trick-or-treating, live music, balloon twisting and performances. The city's citywide trick-or-treat follows on Thursday, Oct. 29, from 6 to 8 p.m.
When we checked, the Oct. 24 party was the only event on Metro Parks' Homestead venue listing. On other days, that leaves the loop, the pond and the Heritage Trail for ordinary weekday walks while restoration gets started next door.
Curious how the open space around Hill Farm, Tarlton Meadows or Clover Meadows lines up with a particular street, or what the new parkland borders? The team at Castro Group is happy to pull up the map with you and walk through it in English or Spanish. Let's Connect.
