By JAN LARSON McLAUGHLIN
BG Independent News
Bowling Green residents will soon have a chance to talk about trails, chat about children’s activities, and gab about green spaces.
The city’s parks and recreation department wants to hear what people want from their parks.
“I’m actually kind of excited about this,” said Kristin Otley, director of the department. “We want to hear from the community.”
The comments will then become part of the park and recreation department’s five-year master plan update. To get citizen input, five focus groups will be held – with each one targeting a specific topic. The comments will be restricted to the topics for each forum, which are:
- April 6: Youth programs.
- April 13: Natural area parks (Wintergarden and Simpson.)
- April 20: Fitness, aquatics and events.
- May 11: Active parks (City Park, Carter Park, etc.)
- May 18: Future directions.
All the meetings will be held at the Bowling Green Community Center, beginning at 7 p.m. Free child care will be available.
Anyone interested in a particular topic, who is unable to make it to that meeting may email comments to the focus group moderator, Shannon Orr, from Bowling Green State University at skorr@bgsu.edu.
The last master plan for the parks and recreation department was a 10-year plan adopted in 2005. Otley said the board decided a five-year plan was more reasonable. “We think it makes more sense in this day and age.”
Also at last week’s park and recreation board meeting, it was announced that the late Marjorie Conrad had bequeathed the park and recreation department annual payments between $4,000 and $5,000. It is unknown how many years the annual gifts will reoccur.
“She wanted to make sure things she loved were taken care of after her passing,” board member Cheryl Windisch said of Conrad’s generosity.
It was reported that the new workshop and restroom building at the Wintergarden/St. John Preserve was progressing. The foundation and underground plumbing were done, and the building should start going up next week. The park currently has a port-a-john for public use.
The board was given a new field use policy and gym rental rates to review before next month’s meeting.
