WARSAW — During a public meeting on Tuesday, Oct. 18, the Warsaw Parks and Recreation Department gave an insight into what Warsaw’s parks will look like in the next five years.

A detailed improvement plan was submitted that was separated by years and the proposed improvements for each year. These are the main projects and totals by year. At this point these are all just proposed plans and will happen based on budget availability.

2017 Park Improvements:

• Replace restroom building, remove former ball diamond, develop a skatepark and develop a basketball court with lighting at Richard-Dubois Park.
• Construct small shelter over picnic area, install water spray pad and replace play equipment at Ker Park.
• $187,000 total for year.

2018 Park Improvements:

• Replace play equipment and install swing benches at Kelly Park.
• Start Ice Rink Project, a projected two-year project.
• Restroom renovations at Pike Lake Campground.
• $155,000 total for year.

2019 Park Improvements:

• Replace play equipment and install benches around playground at Beyer Park.
• Renovate play area, new play equipment and construct curb and sidewalk along Washington Street at Rarick Park.
• $227,000 total for year.

2020 Park Improvements:

• Construct new restroom facility at Bixler Park.
• Playground replacement at Kiddieland.
• $313,000 total for year

2021 Park Improvements:

• Construct restroom facility at  Hire Park.
• Install outdoor interactive equipment (music, art, ect.) at Krebs Trailhead.
• $371,000 total for year.

After the improvement plans were presented, a 10 year preventative maintenance plan was also proposed. Next month a projected five year budget will be presented that correlates with the improvement and maintenance plans. The board hopes to have the final plans ready in December to be sent to DNR by Jan. 15.

A conceptual plan was proposed for Kelly Park. The hope is that by developing Kelly Park it will help evenly distribute the park’s traffic and develop another major community park. One main attraction to the plan was a large sledding hill that would be available to the public in the winter months.

After the public meeting, the board continued with their normally scheduled board meeting.

The OCRA Grant application discussed at previous meetings has  been turned in. The parks is up against 8 other applicants. The board should hear back about awards in December.

MRA Architects have been officially hired for the ice rink/office update project. The organization will perform site investigations, cost analysis and a conceptual design. Nothing is concrete about the project yet, but this study should give the board a better idea before proceeding further.

In other business:

• Winter preparations have begun. The campgrounds are empty and the piers, lifeguard stands and buoys have been pulled. Winterization should be complete in the next few weeks.
• The maintenance team will soon start sorting through the park’s 200,000 Christmas lights.
• Fall Family Fun was a success with hundreds of attendees.
• The siding of the stage wings at Central Park were starting to deteriorate. They have been replaced.
• All plugs at the campsite have been transitioned to 50 amp plugs.