The Starke County Park Board is ready to submit a draft of its five-year plan, but what effect it will have on the Bass Lake Beach and Campground remains to be seen. The Troyer Group has been gathering input about the county’s park facilities and is now putting the finishing touches on a 34-page draft.
Troyer Group representative Mike Reese told board members Tuesday that in spite of a tight schedule, public participation has been amazing. “I thought we had a good turnout for the public meeting, about 20 people,” he said. “I think South Bend had less than that show up for their five-year park master plan meetings. And 364 surveys were turned in in that 10-day window, which I think is very impressive and shows the support that’s out there.”
Now that input has been gathered, Reese says planners are now turning their attention to creating an implementation plan for the suggested improvements. “For each of the facilities, we will have kind of a list of goals and some strategies to accomplish those goals,” he explained. “That will kind of be summarized into a matrix that will say each of the tasks, the people or parties responsible, the time line for completing that, and for the applicable line items, a construction cost or cost to achieve that line item.”
For now, though, the main goal is to submit the draft to the Indiana Department of Natural Resources by this Sunday. That would allow Starke County to possibly be eligible for DNR grant funding this year.
Reese pointed out that Starke County does face a few challenges. “Starke County is a little bit different than some of the ones they see, just because there’s not a parks department established,” he said. “You don’t have an annual budget. You’re kind of starting things.”
While those in attendance at Tuesday’s meeting applauded the planning effort, some questioned whether the changes recommended for the Bass Lake Beach and Campground will be implemented. It was pointed out that the facility’s operator can’t be forced to make improvements that aren’t specified in its existing lease with the county.
However, Park Board President Debbie Mix says she’s optimistic. “The five-year plan addresses other areas that we actually can very fairly quickly get accomplished but wouldn’t be able to get accomplished without it,” she said. “So there’s several reasons for the five-year plan. We may be kicked back in time, waiting for the lease, but I’m hoping that won’t happen.”
The plan is expected to be presented to the public later this month or early next month. The park board will then decide whether to officially adopt the plan in March, before a final version is sent to the DNR.
