Beulah Brainstorm

Beulah Brainstorming:  Parks                                                            2/5/08 

Facilitators:  Patty Cantrell, Phil Downs, Vicki Carpenter

 7 p.m. – Patty welcomed folks and gave the overview of the evening’s work.

Comments and ideas for parks

• Nothing distinguishes Parks (no parking, landscaping, dressed up, look like vacant lots, need to be dressed up, directions)
• Places for people to sit (Trapp area, is there fishing?)
• Signage (condition of it, lack of it, more negative/don’t do this, should be positive and inviting signage)
• General maintenance, grass cutting
• How do people know where are public and or private areas
• ‘library’ park should be developed
• benches, tables, more permanent
• better definition of bike area, use arrows
• comprehensive look at earlier plans and their status (money spent and not known what became of it…)
• status of plans that were drafted for central park, recently done hasn’t been seen
• old plans had budget set aside but not evident in new budget (ex; boat ramp, Diane Elliott shared that she has info about DNR regs and costs, she will share)
• smaller parks could get service clubs to ‘own’ them and upgrade them (adopt a park, wish list)
• tennis courts-keep them clean
• bike racks at different parks
• info about location of other parks, esp at Northway (tennis, playground
• Fair Park; resident sees less use since trees have been cut (rx: plant trees to have a shady beach)
• Permanent site of a map to help folks locate parks (perhaps at Trailhead bldg)
• Information/map about village

What should be done by this summer?

• Drinking fountain in the park
• Hours posted on the bathroom buildings (beach house and trailhead bldg)
• Trailhead building:  is there a plan about publication distribution, building is empty, who is responsible to keep it attractive (Jim B responded that it’s open to anyone to put publications in, some episodes of vandalism in the past, hours vary by season)
• Irrigation in park to keep flowers/garden watered
• Trash bins emptied more often
• Trailhead building is wonderful but seems underutilized
• Service groups or volunteers staff the trailhead building, esp at peak times
• Beulah Boosters is evolving as a volunteer group, to support/grow Beulah
• Contact other groups put on activities in the parks (car shows, etc, like the library has been doing with new activities)
• CLCBA has many activities year ‘round (fireworks, winter fest, 4^th July, fall festival, etc,) how to keep that going and increase
• Volunteers, MSU Master Gardeners to help with planters on street/parks
• Trapp Park could be better utilized  (update on the on the sludge/dredge, quality of water, should there be a warning signs about sludge/keep out/fencing)
• Aspects of the draft plan for central park, why hasn’t it been followed up on more (an overlay of the old and proposed changes would be helpful for people to see and understand the changes)
• Beach sand needs to be brought in where creek comes in (Diane shared info/annual need, waterfront need as well as park, she has info for Patty)
• Paint the blue trash cans with Crystal  Lake scenes as a youth activity

Long Term: 

• master plan is needed as well as a short term(need to have a plan, traffic flow, need to make this a more attractive place, parking)
• parking downtown and throughout (other than parallel parking, whose rules apply: village, county, state)
• boat trailers take up lots of parking spaces, find alternatives
• MSU Master Gardener program may be resource for all the parks to do a master planting plan, irrigation is essential
• Plant It Wild does maintain their 3 areas (both entrances and central park)
• Lighting in the park (Frankfort, Mesick, Kingsley as an example) more in parks, lower the lights, more attractive
• Environmental issues/concerns need to be kept in forefront (such as watering)
• Draft plan for the Central Park was displayed and shared by Patty (w/wo the tennis courts, trees remain, designer could be contacted for follow-up if the Council should decide as part of priority)
• Attendance at Council meeting is encouraged, input helps with planning
• Jim Baltazar shared the evolution of the Trailhead Building
• Chamber/Visitor Bureau staff shared that the new number one question is  ‘how do I get to the bike trail” rather than how to find Gwen Frostic’s, and efforts to make Benzie a destination and this effort helps move this forward
• Take advantage of the influx of bike riders with upgrades in the parks (maps, signage, trash)
• Dog walk rule/designated areas (water, clean up bag s, people friendly signage)
• Can the trail be made x-country skier friendly (village area has snow put on it and east of town has snow mobilers)
• Parking plan
• Electrical needs in central park, additional lighting (everyone likes the new lights)
• Entrance areas to village, considered as streetscape

The group categorized the above ideas into three main objectives

• Make things look nice
• Signage
• New ideas/activities

Feedback about tonight:

• Positive ideas generated
• Need to think about big things more, like Central Park for example, that could be a part of a master plan that could be chipped away at.  Cost is a reality and ways to help fund, grants, etc.  Such as flow Central Park into the beach area with walkway (boardwalk perhaps
• Efforts several years ago, a big plan, was shot down by village council and residents.  History shows the council is reluctant to sink money into big things.  Many ideas /do-able items came out now, move on those now and still work on the big things as well, but getting things done now will keep people vested.
• Grant applications will need evidence of what has been done (a grant writer has volunteered).  Appreciated the support of the Village and crew with different CLCBA events, everyone working together.
• Grass roots efforts can be best, council may be stuck by thinking about $$/costs.
• Thanks for the efforts and past due, we need to start small.
• Several projects on short term are very do-able, grants available for planning and for long term projects. (matching grants too)
• Happy with the meeting
• Looking forward to the next two meetings as well, there are many tied in aspects for all 3 areas
• Jim B shared that there is a Master Plan, 1997 and it needs to be updated
• We have amazing things already in Beulah, considering the size and we can do more.
• Thanks for hosting the meeting, important to include the Master Plan and lots of efforts have been made and move forward.
• Many short term are do-able, the long term will need attention.  Awareness of resistance from residents from earlier efforts.  This process for short term is good, more focused efforts (residents, businesses, etc) for long term movement.  Earlier efforts may have been less successful due to not getting early by-in from folks.
• DDA efforts, MSU project have gotten ideas out and many were completed
• Thanks for coming out, getting people engaged in the conversation is important and it needs to continue.