Rockville Parks Board continues working on quality of life improvements

With a focus on getting residents from Rockville and across Park County to be more active outdoors, the Rockville Park Board has been busy as of late working on long range goals and plans.

Luke Waltz, Rockville Park Board President, said it is the board's goal to provide something "unique and different" than what residents and visitors may see at the nearby state parks or other areas around the state of Indiana. 

"Not every community has a town pool and even fewer have a Chautauqua facility. Historically, a Chautauqua was an event that ran around the midwest in the early 1900s with speakers and included people like William Taft and traveling missionaries. The Chautauqua is an amazing asset for Rockville to capitalize on and have music events, performances and host larger events to draw people from around the state and area and can help stimulate our local economy," Waltz told The Parke County Post. 

Waltz, who has a background in landscaping and parks, said one of the biggest struggles facing parks and recreation departments is the long term vision and the maintenance of that vision. 

"A lot of times they are good with one, but not with the other. Our mowing team is great in Pam Reynolds and Danny Engle. Pam helps with the grounds and Danny helps with the pool facility and the town water guys help, as does Doug Gordon. Our maintenance side is great, but sometimes we struggle with what is the next big thing. I think that's where my career and seeing what other communities do, it is easier for me to think big. Thinking big, what can we do in our small community to have a generational update to the parks department and parks facilities around town," Waltz said. 

Waltz said the parks board is currently in the midst of a five year plan with a focus on delivering what residents want, as well as finding ways to get the community outside and active on walking trails, biking trails, active lifestyle, active recreation and programming. 

"We have a great little league and T-ball facility that we program every summer. We also have the pool, but having more independent recreational facilities are things we are looking at. We are looking at can we connect the parks to downtown and enhance recreation opportunities," he said.  

Rockville has three city parks. Depot Park is about 1.5 acres and is "incredible," according to Waltz. 

"It is the northern most part of the gateway trail. This park was previously the train depot for the Vandalia line and there is a lot of history at this facility," he said. 

Then there is Busenbark Park, which is not "very well known," and is a community park, according to Waltz. 

"This park is underutilized. There is one picnic bench and a grill there, but there is a really cool opportunity to create something special for the neighborhood," Waltz said. 

And, the crown jewel is Beechwood Park, which is just over 13 acres and used to be 50 acres and include a golf course. 

"It has a lot of other things there. The park has a lot to offer, and one thing we learned in our 5 year plan is Rockville maintains all of these parks, which totals 16.9 acres and that equates to about 6.7 acres of park land per 1,000 residents. Rockville's population is around 2,500 and according to the National Parks and Recreation Association, which is the guiding light for parks, we need to be around 12.9 acres per capita. Can we grow that, and is that an option? 

The five year plan is a DNR requirement if a parks department is looking for state funding through grants or other programs, Waltz explained. 

"For us to be compliant with the state, every five years, this is a required update. The state has specific items that need to be in a plan like this. We did a public survey that garnered over 350 responses, which was incredible. That was a big piece of our input so the community could tell us what they wanted. For our community to verbalize all the things they wanted in the parks, that helped us shape this plan. The plan is 115 pages and features current amenities, current programming, cultural resources, ADA compliance for disabled and other ways to provide access and safety and a variety of other things. The result of all of this is an action item list with priorities that can be dispersed over the next five years and targeting budgets and costs. We use that to submit for funding, grants, potential donors and show them our plan and try to have a better parks system," Waltz said. 

One of the major items residents said they wanted was new restrooms at the parks. 

"That is something we are actively working on. We have been working with an architect and they are working on incorporating restrooms at the pool house that can be accessed from the outside so you don't need to go through the building. These will be updated, state of the art and accessible for the entire park. As soon as we have a plan that is constructible, we will present it to the town board. We want everyone to be on board with this and do it the right way. In our top five trends, the surfacing and conditions and cleanliness were among the top things we heard about," Waltz said.

In addition, the park board is also looking to invest in the town pool, and, perhaps, the construction of a splash pad at either Beechwood Park or Depot Park, Waltz said.  

"There are some options of what that may look like. If we do a pool upgrade or renovation, it may have to be offline for a year, and we don't like to say that, but construction takes time. If we do that, can we provide another option like a splash pad to compensate for that? Another thing is a larger walking loop around the park, as well as working with people for larger events and programs offering that would allow us to use the Chautauqua more. It is used for birthdays, reunions and some special events, but we want that to jive with the calendar so everyone can be prepared for what is coming in the next year. We want quality of life improvements," Waltz said. 

The Park Board meets the third Thursday of every month at 6 p.m. at the Rockville Town Hall, 119 West High Street, Rockville.