Parks Dept. On Schedule With 5-Year Master Plan
September 21, 2016 at 7:58 p.m.
By David [email protected]
At the Park Board meeting Tuesday afternoon, he said they had been waiting to hear whether or not the city was named a Stellar Community for 2016, and that caused a little bit of a delay in the master planning process, but Warsaw did not receive that honor. Now the Parks is waiting to see if it will receive as much as $500,000 from the Office of Community and Rural Affairs Public Facilities Program grant for improvements to the Richardson-Dubois and Kerr Park on East Market Street.
A five-year plan is being created for capital improvements and maintenance.
At the October meeting, Brown said the Park Board will have a public hearing and present the action plan “so you can see what we want to accomplish in the next five years.”
Budgets will be presented in November to determine how much money will be needed over the next five years.
The master plan has to be presented to the Indiana Department of Natural Resources by Jan. 15 for its review. If the Park Board doesn’t have a Dec. 20 meeting due to schedules and lack of other business, Brown said the board’s January meeting may need to be moved up to Jan. 10 to discuss the master plan.
After the DNR review, another public hearing will be held to review the draft of the plan. The Park Board has until April 15 to turn in its final master plan.
Parks Superintendent Larry Plummer said they were juggling the plan two ways – one way if they receive the OCRA grant, and one if they don’t receive it.
The OCRA grant winners will be announced Dec. 1 with a celebration Dec. 8, according to Kathleen Weissenberger, owner of KW Consultants, Indianapolis. After the regular monthly Park Board meeting, at 6 p.m. Weissenberger and the Park Board held a second public hearing on the OCRA grant application. No members of the public except local media were present. She said eight applicants were vying for the three grant awards.
In other business during Tuesday’s meeting:
• Plummer reported construction the shelter for the Apollo exercise equipment at Lucerne Park is being completed.
He noted the Bicentennial celebration on Sept. 29 in the west shelter parking lot in Central Park will be from 8 a.m. to noon.
The Seward Johnson statues downtown will be picked up in the evening of Sept. 29 by Park employees, and trucks will pick them up at 5 a.m. Sept. 30 to take them back to New Jersey.
The 20 statues are spread through the downtown area and Central Park.
“So if you haven’t seen the sculptures, you have until that night,” Plummer said.
• Recreation Director Sheila Wieringa reported movie night was moved from last Saturday to this Saturday in Central Park due to the weather forecast.
She also reported Fall Family Fun is 6 to 8 p.m. Oct. 14 in Lucerne Park.
At the Park Board meeting Tuesday afternoon, he said they had been waiting to hear whether or not the city was named a Stellar Community for 2016, and that caused a little bit of a delay in the master planning process, but Warsaw did not receive that honor. Now the Parks is waiting to see if it will receive as much as $500,000 from the Office of Community and Rural Affairs Public Facilities Program grant for improvements to the Richardson-Dubois and Kerr Park on East Market Street.
A five-year plan is being created for capital improvements and maintenance.
At the October meeting, Brown said the Park Board will have a public hearing and present the action plan “so you can see what we want to accomplish in the next five years.”
Budgets will be presented in November to determine how much money will be needed over the next five years.
The master plan has to be presented to the Indiana Department of Natural Resources by Jan. 15 for its review. If the Park Board doesn’t have a Dec. 20 meeting due to schedules and lack of other business, Brown said the board’s January meeting may need to be moved up to Jan. 10 to discuss the master plan.
After the DNR review, another public hearing will be held to review the draft of the plan. The Park Board has until April 15 to turn in its final master plan.
Parks Superintendent Larry Plummer said they were juggling the plan two ways – one way if they receive the OCRA grant, and one if they don’t receive it.
The OCRA grant winners will be announced Dec. 1 with a celebration Dec. 8, according to Kathleen Weissenberger, owner of KW Consultants, Indianapolis. After the regular monthly Park Board meeting, at 6 p.m. Weissenberger and the Park Board held a second public hearing on the OCRA grant application. No members of the public except local media were present. She said eight applicants were vying for the three grant awards.
In other business during Tuesday’s meeting:
• Plummer reported construction the shelter for the Apollo exercise equipment at Lucerne Park is being completed.
He noted the Bicentennial celebration on Sept. 29 in the west shelter parking lot in Central Park will be from 8 a.m. to noon.
The Seward Johnson statues downtown will be picked up in the evening of Sept. 29 by Park employees, and trucks will pick them up at 5 a.m. Sept. 30 to take them back to New Jersey.
The 20 statues are spread through the downtown area and Central Park.
“So if you haven’t seen the sculptures, you have until that night,” Plummer said.
• Recreation Director Sheila Wieringa reported movie night was moved from last Saturday to this Saturday in Central Park due to the weather forecast.
She also reported Fall Family Fun is 6 to 8 p.m. Oct. 14 in Lucerne Park.
Have a news tip? Email [email protected] or Call/Text 360-922-3092