The Zimmer Biomet Center Lake Pavilion in Warsaw is shown on Tuesday, Aug. 15. The Warsaw Parks and Recreation Department will host its first event at the renovated building on Saturday, Sept. 16. InkFreeNews photo by Leah Sander.

By Leah Sander
InkFreeNews

WARSAW — The Warsaw Parks and Recreation Department will have its first event at Zimmer Biomet Center Lake Pavilion on Saturday, Sept. 16.

Warsaw Parks and Recreation Department Superintendent Larry Plummer announced that news regarding the renovated building at the Warsaw Parks and Recreation Board’s meeting on Tuesday, Aug. 15.

The event will be at the department’s Family Safety Day.

“Some things still might not be complete in the storage room, lifeguard rooms, things of that sort, but we do anticipate that the main room will be usable for that event,” said Plummer.

There’s a ribbon-cutting planned for the pavilion on Wednesday, Sept. 27, with Plummer thinking at this point it will be in the afternoon.

Regarding finishing work at the pavilion, Plummer said, “The water line has been completed.”

“They just poured some concrete around the building yesterday and inside the mechanical room floor, so we can start moving on some of the IT stuff inside there, the cameras,” he said. “The roofing is almost complete. They’ve got some painting to touch up, a little bit of flooring, some mechanical stuff yet.”

“We’re scheduled to have a punch list walk-through in the next week or so,” added Plummer. “The park crew has gone down and we have taken out all of the concrete in front of the pavilion and … the depressed curve there. The street department is … forming that up.”

Crews are to “mill the turn-around Aug. 22, and they look to pave it Aug. 23, 24 and 25,” he said.

After the ribbon-cutting is held Sept. 27, the parks department will start renting the pavilion out, said Plummer.

Pickleball Issue

The board also heard about a pickleball issue at Kelly Park from some members of the Pickleball Phanatics club.

They asked if additional space for the sport be added there as many pickleball players use the park and there’s not enough room for their club to all play together at the same time.

Members asked if tennis courts there might be re-striped to allow for both pickleball and tennis to occur. They said they could bring in mobile nets to put at those particular courts when they used it for pickleball and have funds to pay for the re-striping. Members also said they could move from those courts if tennis players were wanting to play.

Plummer said the parks department had gotten some calls from tennis players about not being comfortable playing tennis while pickleball players were at Kelly Park.

Board Member Steve Haines said he wasn’t “willing to mess with another tennis court.”

“We need to keep these available for people who want to play tennis,” he said.

Board Member Larry Ladd said he agreed with concerns brought about re-striping courts.

The board chose to not take action on the request.

In other business, the board:

• Recognized parks department laborers Rob Moyer and Dylan Thomas as the team members of the month for June and July respectively.
• Agree to replace some pine trees near McDonald’s at Central Park with arborvitae trees for $12,277.
• Heard from Plummer equipment “mobilization” has begun for work on the Center Lake Recreational Trail.

The board’s next meeting will be 5:15 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 19, at Warsaw City Hall.