The residents of Valparaiso still want a public pool, according to surveys done for the Parks Department five-year master plan.
“It shows up every year,” said Leon Younger, president of Pros Consulting, who is helping the park department do the plan for the second time and has helped the department in other matters.
Getting a pool would take a partnership with the public schools, Valparaiso University or help from private partners — or a combination of the three, Parks Director John Seibert said.
Younger presented a rough draft of the book-length plan at the first meeting of the new Valparaiso/Center Township Parks Board on Tuesday.
Younger said the plan should be approved by April 15 so the department is eligible for grants and other funding, so it’s a process that’s both practical and financial for a board that is still putting together its own financial planning.
Seibert said that the attorneys and financial planners should have the Board’s planning ready for a March approval.
It will include a capital reserve account and a cumulative improvement fund for maintenance and purchases, similar to the Fire Territory that the city and township share, Seibert said.
The members of the Valparaiso board remain the same, but Center Township has appointed Martin Sonnenberg and Mitch Peters.
Younger said there are four primary ideas that people should take away from the five-year plan draft.
The first is that the city hiking and biking trails system should fill in gaps and connect to the township and larger county and state trails, he said.
The second, he said, is the city should buy land to balance the neighborhood and community parks through the city and township.
Valparaiso should also update existing parks to current standards in the next five years, and the city should define spaces for seniors and youth and for the arts without duplicating efforts, Younger said.
During the meeting, the board members and consultants talked about using the new school gyms as program centers and mixing youth and senior programs.
They also talked about having consistent signs at parks and along trails and redoing old parks like Kirchhoff and Rogers-Lakewood, as well as either revamping the Banta Senior Center or moving on to something better because it’s at a crossroads.
The Board also approved hiring Troyer Group to design the planned 14-acre dog park and Horticulture Department at 2900 N. Campbell St.
Troyer would be paid $41,015 to design the park and all amenities, and the park should be finished this year, Seibert has said before.
James D. Wolf Jr. is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.
