The Winamac Park Board is scaling back its plans for upgrades to Veterans Memorial Park, at least for now. Park Board President Courtney Poor had suggested adding a decorative archway prominently displaying the name of the park. But during last week’s meeting, he said he has reconsidered, after residents complained the archway would clutter the park.
However, Poor said he would like at least some sort of sign installed. Poor said he’s been discussing the possibility with a representative from ProscapeS Unlimited. “He said that he thought that a sign might be able to be put in that cement right at that corner, just inside where they have flowers planted,” Poor said, “that you might be able to come up with a small sign that would say ‘Veterans Memorial Park’ that could be seen from two different directions.”
Most board members were okay with the idea of adding one or two benches to Veterans Memorial Park, which would be donated by the VFW and American Legion. But Poor wants to look into a few other options, before making any additions. “I understand that we have, possibly, the opportunity of expanding the green-space of that park, taking that gravel driveway out and possibly doing something with that and extending the green-space,” he said. “I would like to see us pursue that, to see if that is actually a viable alternative, and then revisit the possibility of two benches.” Board member Brad Zellers said the next step should be to have the property surveyed.
The park board recently put together a questionnaire to see how residents felt about the proposed upgrades. Of the 52 who responded, 17 wanted the park left as it is, while 15 said they wanted all of the proposed upgrades.
Park Manager Dave DeLorenzo said that during informal discussions with his fellow Legion members, the consensus was that the park is too cluttered already. Meanwhile, the park board’s advisory council thinks the benches would be enough of an addition.
In the end, the park board decided to hold off on taking any formal action, due to the absence of board member Pat Bawcum.
