The entrance to Prince’s Lakes Town Hall is seen in August 2022. Daily Journal file photo
As Prince’s Lakes town officials work toward creating a master plan for town parks, they are asking residents for feedback.
The Prince’s Lakes Parks Board held a public hearing Saturday to hear what residents would like to see from the park system in the coming years. The input gathered will help shape the five-year parks master plan.
The parks board was created by the town council in 2023. The board is now in the process of creating a master plan to guide future upgrades at current parks and plan for the future. Later this year, the plan will be presented to the Indiana Department of Natural Resources, said Mike Gallamore, president of the parks board.
“Every grant that I’ve looked at refers to the master plan and the master plan says you gotta survey your community. You gotta have a public hearing to get input,” Gallamore said. “You gotta have a bipartisan park board that has their own input into what they want to see happen, and if you look at this parks board up here, you don’t see a lot of young parents, do you? You see some grandpas and grandmas and some young men, but we’re looking for input.”
Currently, Prince’s Lakes has two parks: one next to the town hall at 14 E. Lakeview, Nineveh, and Robertson Shey Park, the baseball and softball fields below the East Lake Dam.
The board has made improvements to park facilities but still has more on its agenda. The town received a little over $300,000 from the American Recovery Act, and the town sent out a survey to residents to determine what would be done with it.
“Overwhelmingly, many projects came forward. Overwhelmingly, it was to do with our parks, to enhance and improve our parks,” Gallamore said. “The council took that message to heart.”
The American Recovery Act money and the town’s park money were used for a variety of uses, including buying new playground equipment, working on the basketball court, water fountains, the concession stand and converting the storage shed into a storage building for the baseball and softball groups and the town, which Gallamore said was needed at the time. Town officials also made the parks Americans with Disabilities Act compliant.
Two upcoming projects on its radar include extending the walking trail near town hall, which Gallamore said was a high priority for residents based on survey results, and adding a small park alongside Robertson Shey so parents can watch softball and baseball games while also watching their children at the park.
Gallamore also mentioned activities the parks board could do, like a golf cart parade, chili cookoff and Battle of the Bands. He said the board has a commitment for a horseshoe throwing area and an individual is willing to pay for the entire thing if the board allows them to install it and host a tournament or two for them.
Residents who attended last week’s meeting had several ideas for park improvements, including creating better pickleball courts and building community around the parks.
“I do think the parks are really a good source of community and like bringing kids together, bringing families together,” said Michael Nielsen, a resident. “So hav(ing) like tree planting activities or just some sort of nature activities, identifying things … let’s kind of get the kids involved.”
Gallamore said getting to know neighbors has been a theme he’s heard before, and to meet people, he recommended residents volunteer for an upcoming fall festival fundraiser that the board is planning.
The fall festival fundraiser called the Party for the Parks Festival will be from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Oct. 12. Part of last week’s public hearing consisted of gathering volunteers for the event, and by the end of the public hearing, six people signed up to help out.
“It’s going to be spectacular, it really is, and it’s really going to provide a way for everybody to come together, which is one of the reasons why we’re asking for volunteers, so that you guys can meet each other and everybody can get together and work together and have a wonderful outcome,” said Catherine Gleason, parks board member.
The fundraiser will also help with funding. Unlike bigger cities and towns like Franklin, the park budget is $14,000. That’s about equal to one swing set, Gallamore said.
One of the more popular topics at the meeting was pickleball. The town already has a pickleball court but residents would like to see improvements, including widening the court so players don’t have to run off into the grass.
Other ideas previously mentioned to Gallamore include splash pads, more pickleball courts and a dog park, he said. If a person makes a donation, they can make their funding exclusive to the activity of their choice.
Part of the conversation at last week’s meeting also revolved around the best use of getting information out to residents. Kim Osborne, parks board member, asked whether residents preferred email, texting, the website or other methods for being notified on things happening with the parks board.
Some ideas from residents were putting the website on the sign in front of town hall and using a QR code that links to the website. Gallamore also said the parks board intends to promote its fall festival fundraiser on utility bills, and Osborne mentioned having block commanders, a representative on each street that could put flyers on doors or get residents involved with things going on.
Residents are still able to share their thoughts on town parks by contacting Gallamore at (317)-452-2562 by Oct. 1.
