By HOLLY GASKILL
The vision for Lancaster Park is beginning to take shape.
The Bluffton Parks Department toured the construction site — soon to be a park — before their regular meeting on Thursday evening. At that time, the walking path had been paved, installation of multiple utilities had been completed, the restroom and pavilion showed significant progress, and playground installation had begun, among other items.
Superintendent Brandy Fiechter said she expects the contracted work to finish in September. City crews will then complete the remaining work.
However, one item just received bid approval — a pickleball court. The long-awaited item was a dream for Fiechter, but there was no initial funding. Fiechter informed the board a donor had stepped forward for half the project in August, and another was recently secured.
The pickleball court will be located near the wheelchair-accessible Gaga ball pit by the parking lot. The area also features a solar-powered phone charging station.
The board approved a bid package for the pickleball court and a new parking lot, estimated at $245,000 for both. The parking lot will include 78 spaces along the road-facing boundary of the park, with 14 parallel parking spaces along the edge of the lot.
Other features of the park include a 10-foot wide half-mile walking path, a human foosball court, cornhole sets, a bike repair station, a fire pit, a disc golf course, a football/soccer field, a basketball court, sand volleyball courts, and a pavilion.
That said, the meeting wasn’t all happy updates — a recent review of the Bluffton parks found over $400K in improvements were needed to make the parks ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) compliant. Some of these needs include wheelchair-accessible paths and additional signage.
Knowing this is half the battle, Fiechter said. She hopes to address these items throughout the coming years.
Additionally, Fiechter informed the board members that the department has a 2 percent decrease in budget requests for 2024. She stated Bluffton Common Council Scott Mentzer had advised her to make her requests as close to what she’s used this past year, but she noted there are some unknowns with maintenance and events.
Fiechter does expect the department to receive $250K-$320K from the remaining city ARPA funding. However, she’s reviewing many projects that need attention across the parks department resources — like the eroding bank of the Rivergreenway, interurban trail costs, warped wood flooring in the city gym, and parking lot needs, amid several other projects.
Other updates were:
• Leander Schwartz donated siding for the Wells Community Pool, which Fiechter noted will help with some maintenance costs.
• Fiechter also said pool attendance for the summer was 10,351. The pool normally runs at a loss, but given early season cool weather, Fiechter was impressed with this total. Expenses for running the pool were roughly $99,000, and income was $71,000.
• Over 700 people attended the Touch A Truck event, many of whom were from outside the county. 26 trucks were featured.
holly@news-banner.com
