The Culver Town Council members opened a second public hearing Tuesday night concerning the upcoming project in Culver Town Park.
The project is one of several listed in the Regional Development Plan as part of the Marshall County Crossroads Regional Stellar Communities Initiatives designation.
Culver Park Superintendent Amber Cowell talked about the proposed updates in the park.
Cowell commented, “The project itself consists of sidewalks right in front of the west pavilion to allow ADA accessibility to our Farmers Markets and events and all of the booths that go in there. It also includes a new playground area, a plaza, and a stage area right in front of the west pavilion because we have a lot of music performers that go on during different events in the Farmers Markets.”
Cowell added that some of the feedback from the previous public hearing will be taken into consideration, including the Culver Lion’s Club’s request to preserve green space and keep lakefront views as much as possible.
The budget for the project is about $600,000 with $480,000 coming from the Community Development Block Grant from OCRA as part of the Stellar designation and a $120,000 match from the Town of Culver. The town’s match will be supplied by Park Department funds and funds from the Culver Redevelopment Commission.
As part of this project, an income survey needs to be updated. Shannon McLeod from Priority Project Resources told the town council that many of the surveys have been returned, but a team will be out Tuesday, October 19 going door-to-door to collect information.
McLeod also noted that seven citizen support letters need to be included in the grant application, even though it is a non-competitive grant.
“I need seven good letters as to why this park is important to this town and why these improvements will benefit this community and the activities and being able to expand the Farmers Market,” stated McLeod. “The citizen participation and citizen input is extremely important.”
If there is an interest, those letters can be submitted to the staff at Culver Town Hall by October 10. Officials at the Town of Culver and the Culver Park Department are anticipated to post something about it on Facebook and comments may be left there.
There were no other comments during the public hearing.
The project is anticipated to go out to bid in early 2022 with construction to begin in the spring, but it may be delayed after the busy summer season in the park.
