After a six month break between meetings, the Starke County Park Board has picked up its discussion on the Bass Lake Beach House patio. On Tuesday, board members directed the facility’s manager, Larry Clarich, to get quotes for what it would cost to have an engineer visit the site, while making short-term repairs in the meantime.
For years, board members have been voicing concerns with the site’s safety, including a loose railing and a lack of support in the concrete structure. The eventual goal is to come up with a plan to redesign the patio and railing to make them more structurally sound. The park board could then consider whether it would be willing to reimburse the cost of the work as a capital improvement.
While normal maintenance is the responsibility of the facility’s operator, Callahan Development, LLC, Clarich said any permanent solution would require more significant work. “The construction on that rail was probably not the best way to do it because what happened was the way that rail was plunged down in there, it creates a gap for water and it freezes and breaks,” he explained. “To try and repair that exactly the same way it is not the fix for that.”
The situation is similar with the patio structure itself. Clarich said he’s been filling the space under the patio with sand, but it will continue to wash away, the way it’s currently designed.
Board Member and County Highway Superintendent Rik Ritzler said one of his employees who has experience building structures has looked at the site. “He said on the concrete walkway, he could not tell how bad the voids were,” Ritzler explained. “The only way to tell how bad the voids were would be to tear it out and check it out and really fix it. Not just pour sand or something in there, but to take some of the concrete out, really check the voids out, just because it could be this big or it could be halfway through the walkway.” In any case, Ritzler said the installation of glacial stone around the patio last year will likely slow the sand erosion.
The park board’s objective is to make sure the facility is safe, by the time the beach opens for the season.
