Parks Board Approves Plaque & Tree At Kelly, Land Acquisition, Lights At Hire
Parks Board Approves Plaque & Tree At Kelly, Land Acquisition, Lights At Hire
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David Slone-dslone@timesuniononline.com
Parks Board Approves Plaque & Tree At Kelly, Land Acquisition, Lights At HireA plaque, tree and pond at Kelly Park. Pike Lake shoreline stabilization. A donation for Ker Park. Choices for new playground equipment at Beyer Park. Lights at Hire Park. Land acquisition from the former Madison Elementary school site for a new park.
The Warsaw Parks and Recreation Board had a full agenda Tuesday.
At the Park Board’s Feb. 16 meeting, Winona Lake Town Council President Rick Swaim asked the Park Board to help him honor Mike Metzger by naming the pickleball courts at Kelly Park after Metzger. Instead, the Park Board agreed to consider putting a plaque up at the courts recognizing Metzger, who was a pickleball enthusiast and started and ran Pickleball Phanatics in Warsaw. Metzger died Jan. 14 at 79 years old.
On Tuesday, Swaim said Metzger was the “originator” of pickleball in the area. He said he provided Warsaw Parks Superintendent Larry Plummer with a draft of the plaque that they wanted to potentially place at Kelly Park.
“First of all, this is a quality plaque. It’s going to be right at $1,000, in terms of the value of it,” Swaim said, noting that there are similar acrylic plaques on the Winona Lake Greenway.
Swaim said it was also suggested to him that a tree be planted near the plaque, also in Metzger’s honor. Metzger’s family and friends would pay for the plaque, tree and installation.
The Parks Board unanimously approved for the placement of the plaque and the planting of a tree at Kelly Park in Metzger’s honor. Plummer will coordinate with Swaim on the placement of the plaque and tree.
While they were on the subject of Kelly Park, Plummer told the Board, “We’ve been talking about the revitalization of the pond for a couple of years now.” He said he was in a meeting the other day, and it looks like the project is going to happen this year.
“I don’t have the final design with me. I will probably bring that to the next meeting ... but in our conversations, we’re looking at a sustainable pond that will sustain fish so we can stock the pond with aeration. We’ll have a fishing pier out into the pond. We’ll have a boardwalk around part of the pond that will actually make a loop to the other sidewalk, so we’ll have a walking loop, too, that parents can use while their kids play. We are real excited to get this done,” Plummer explained.
During the revitalization work of the pond, there may be some months where Kelly Park may not be accessible from the Fawley Street side, he said, but the public will be informed of when that will happen.
“It’s finally coming to fruition and we’re excited about that. ... This is all done with stormwater funds, so we’ve been a big beneficiary of stormwater funds, for sure,” Plummer said.
Board member Jill Beehler asked how deep the pond will be. Plummer said 10 to 12 feet, but maybe 15, depending on how deep it needs to be to sustain fish.
Moving on to Pike Lake, Plummer said the shoreline stabilization work will be from the south end of the beach to the end of Beyer Park. It’s another project funded by stormwater fees and will complete the shoreline stabilization “for our portion of Pike Lake,” Plummer said. The project includes the planting of native plants and placement of glacial stones. “So this should be a sustainable shoreline stabilization project.”
Board Vice President Larry Ladd asked if G & G Hauling & Excavating was awarded the project, and Plummer said yes. It was awarded at the last Board of Public Works and Safety meeting.
The Parks Department has already done a lot of work at Ker Park, along East Market Street, with installation of the new playground set for April or May.
“During that time, about a month ago, I received a call from Mrs. Charles Ker, Connie Ker; she’s one of the last Kers left in town here. And, she was very interested in our project at Ker Park, of course, because it bears her name,” Plummer said.
He told her what they were doing at the park and she asked if there was anything they needed for the park. Plummer told her that in the overall plan for the city’s Stellar project, they were looking for a playground for 2- to 5-year-olds to be installed south of the playground that’s going to be installed this spring. Ker said she would like to be involved with that.
“We looked through some pieces that she was interested in and what it would cost to put the piece in and the full protection – the timbers, and a couple of benches by that piece,” Plummer said.
The cost came to $13,360, and Ker “graciously” donated that money. Plummer said they purchased the playground equipment and it should arrive in time for installation with the other equipment.
“Through her kindness, we’ll be able to do all that at the same time and finish that work up. We’re very appreciative of Connie Ker to do that,” Plummer said.
He then presented the Board with three playground equipment options for Beyer Park for the Board members to think about. The options run in cost from $43,231.94 to $52,420. After some questions from Board members, Board President Steve Haines suggested the members review the options and come to the April meeting with a choice in mind. Plummer noted there is a deadline for ordering the equipment, and the budget for the equipment is $50,000.
Cary and Kathleen Groninger are developing the former Madison Elementary School on the Union Street site into housing. They want to have a public part as part of the development, to be owned and maintained by the city. The land for the park is 78 by 142 by 35 by 154 feet. Plummer said the Groningers would donate that bit of land for the park on the west side of town.
“I think with every new development, we need to look at parks and recreation. So I see this as an opportunity for us to have something on the west side and to service this neighborhood on that side of town,” Plummer said.
The Parks Board unanimously approved to accept the proposed land subject to working the details out with the owners and the city.
Hires Park BMX operator Dan Rumple then requested to put lights up at the park, which is in its 35th year.
“The program is growing. We’re trying to add some programs, and potentially get some bigger races back at Hire Park. And one of the first things I asked for is lights, and later in the summer, into the fall, we’re really racing to get races completed and we’ve got to scale back on our practices just to kind of fill in the evening, and so we run out of light quick,” Rumple said.
He asked the Parks Board for permission to put lights in, and said he has a grant written to the K21 Health Foundation to pay for them. K21’s board doesn’t meet until Thursday, but if they get the lights the LED lights wouldn’t be installed until this summer.
“The lights would only be used on race night. They wouldn’t be on every night, so an as-needed basis,” Rumple stated.
For local races, 10 p.m. would be the latest the lights would be kept on. If Hire Park gets a national competition, or another big race, that could push it if weather delayed the racing, but that would be once a year.
Rumple said there would be four poles with four lights, and they would be pointed at the track. He said he didn’t think they would intrude into the neighborhood. The light poles are 25 feet high.
The Parks Board unanimously approved the lights as presented.
