Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
SILVER LAKE - Three years and two town councils ago, plans began to take shape to transform the former service station on Jefferson Street into a backyard wildlife habitat.
The transformation was made possible through a unique Indiana Department of Environmental Management program. Fines levied against the county's Dalton Corp. were applied to a cleanup of underground tanks at the 132-foot by 66-foot parcel.
More than $60,000 in fines imposed on Dalton Foundry for clean air violations were designated by Dalton representatives to go toward cleanup of the property.
In May 1999, town council members Mabel Enyeart, Stanley Williams and Wilbur Brake ordered a title search on the land, which was abandoned in 1984.
Harry Dewayne Davis, Peggy Ann Davis, Jack L. Bays, Paul E. Bradford and Robert Grindle and/or his estate were named as owners. They signed a quitclaim deed over to the town in 2000.
In October 1999, the board heard from IDEM representative Kyle Hendrix and APT Environmental Services representative Steve Sittler regarding possible funding, soil testing and removal of three 3,000-gallon gas tanks, one 3,000-gallon waste oil tank and a heating-fuel oil tank.
The site was developed around 1925. In 1935 the Ohio Oil Co., a division of Marathon Oil, purchased the property and continued to sell gasoline and fuel oil. Automotive repair services were added in the '50s and '60s. Harry Dewayne Davis purchased the property in 1977.
Gale Owens, Brenda Wadkins and Donna McCune took office in 2000, inheriting the task of remediation.
Kyle Hendrix was named project manager. He is with the Office of Land Quality, Indiana Department of Environmental Management.
The property was to be rehabilitated to the point of being suitable for residential use.
In August 2000, the tanks were pulled and more than 383 tons of contaminated soil was removed from the former service station.
By February 2001 the board announced plans to turn the property into a park.
A naming contest was held between Silver Lake Elementary School students with then-sixth-grader Andy O'Hara's suggestion, Silver Lake Memorial Park, selected as the winner.
Under the direction of Randy Schmucker owner of Randy's Landscaping, Warsaw, the area will be transformed into a wildlife habitat designed to draw creatures of the winged variety - birds and butterflies.
Schmucker, a certified National Wildlife Federation Habitat steward, has designed the park to have a "bog," pond, perennial garden, picnic area, a 12- by 24-foot gazebo and annual garden.
A 10-foot-round, 18-inch-deep water fountain also will be installed.
When the work is complete the town council plans to have the park certified as a designated wildlife habitat.
The park is planned to be low maintenance, and a local 4-H club, Cub Scouts and several volunteers have offered to monitor the area.
Although the cleanup of the property came through the IDEM brownsfield program, money for plants, gazebos and park benches is being sought through community fund-raising.
One such effort is the sale of engraved bricks with the 4- by 8-inch sizes selling for $75 and the 8- by 8-inch bricks are selling for $125 each. Forms for the bricks are available at the town's Lake City Bank branch and at the town hall.
Construction of the park is expected to be complete by the end of the summer.
