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WINONA LAKE - The quonset hut, a property rarely used in the past by the public, is suddenly a hot property in Winona Lake.
Winona Lake's park board voted 3-2 Tuesday against allowing the Northern Lakes Skating Association to renew its agreement to use the building for an indoor ice skating rink.
Once that decision was made, representatives of the Winona Lake town council asked the park board for permission to use the quonset hut as the new location for the police department and for the town offices.
The park board tabled any decision on the town use of the building until the board members have had a chance to consider the issue. They also asked for public input on how the building should be used.
The NLSA has used the building for two winters under an agreement that any profits earned would be split evenly with the park department. However, in that two years the organization has not made a profit.
At the April meeting the park board voted tentatively to renew the NLSA's lease, contingent on the organization buying a refrigeration unit to freeze the ice. Without a "chiller," skating activities are dependent on weather conditions and temperatures.
But Brian Smith, secretary for the NLSA, told the board Tuesday that, while the association is checking into possibilities, it still has not acquired a refrigeration unit.
Before the NLSA began using the building as an ice rink, the park department used it for boat storage rental in the winter.
Approximately 20 people attended the meeting to support the NLSA's lease of the quonset hut. "The skating facility provided a safe and unique opportunity for our community," a woman said, emphasizing that the only alternative is for kids to ice skate on frozen lakes, which can be dangerous.
Other groups, including the Kosciusko County Soccer League, have expressed interest in using the building, especially during winter months.
Town council president Brent Wilcoxson told the park board Tuesday that the building now housing the police department must move soon, and the town offices are outgrowing the community building they are now using. The quonset hut could house all the town's departments in one place, he said, as well as providing a garage area for the police cars.
At a town council meeting this morning called just to discuss options for the town office building, the council said preliminary plans for renovations for the quonset hut estimate cost at $170,000.
The council's other options for the offices include renovating the lodge building adjacent to the park, which also belongs to the park department, or building a new building away from the center of the town.
Costs to renovate the lodge were estimated to be almost as high as to renovate the quonset hut. For a new building, the town would have to spend more than $200,000.
When the lodge was mentioned at the park board meeting last night, board president Chris Boyd said she would oppose moving town offices into the lodge.
"It is the choicest spot in the park. I don't want it for offices. I want it for families to use for fun," she said.
Town council members agreed that the lodge would provide the most attractive building for the town offices, but that the quonset hut was more practical and gave the police department a chance for a garage.
The council will gather more detailed construction costs for renovating the quonset hut and will bring the matter before the park board at its next meeting.
