Jennings County Parks and Recreation Master Plan 2020-2024 JCPR MP
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Jennings County Parks and Recreation Master Plan 2020-2024 JCPR MP JCPR Master Plan 2020-2024 Plan developed in coordination with the Jennings County Parks and Recreation Board Plan drafted by Greg Martin, Director JCPR JCPR Master Plan 2020-2024 2 JCPR MP 2020-2024 JCPR Master Plan 2020-2024 3 Table of Contents Section One: Introduction (page 5) Section Two: Goals and Objectives (page 11) Section Three: Features of Jennings County (page 15) Section Four: Supply Analysis (JCPR specific, page 53) (page 29) Section Five: Accessibility Analysis (page 73) Section Six: Public Participation (page 79) Section Seven: Issues Identification (page 79) Section Eight: Needs Analysis (page 97) Section Nine: New Facilities Location Map (page 125) Section Ten: Priorities and Action Schedule (page 143) Appendix: Miscellaneous (page 154) Double check all JCPR Master Plan 2020-2024 4 Section One: Introduction JCPR Master Plan 2020-2024 5 Park Board Members Department Contact Information Pat Dickerson President: Office location: 380 South County Road 90 West Muscatatuck Park North Vernon, IN 47265 (812) 346-7852 325 North State Highway # 3 (812) 569-7762 North Vernon, IN 47265 [email protected] Commissioner appointment (until 12-31-19) 812-346-2953 812-352-3032 (fax) Tom Moore [email protected] 2925 Deer Creek Road [email protected] North Vernon, IN 47265 (812) 346-1260 www.muscatatuckpark.com (812) 592-0319 [email protected] Judge appointment (until 12-31-21) Samantha Wilder Eco Lake Park Address: 495 Hayden Pike 9300 State Hwy # 7 North Vernon, IN 47265 Elizabethtown, In 47232 (812) 767-4150 [email protected] Judge appointment (until 12-31-21) Pat Hauersperger 565 N. Co. Rd. 900 W North Vernon, IN 47265 (812) 592-7307 [email protected] Council appointment (until 12-31-21) Danny Young 5345 S. Co. Rd. 100 E North Vernon, IN 47265 (812) 592-6822 [email protected] Council appointment (until 12-31-22) JCPR Office/Visitor Center Park Staff Plan Author Greg Martin : Director (Superintendent) 121 Long Street Greg Martin North Vernon IN 47265 (812) 718-1406 Director, JCPR [email protected] Author of five previous 5-year Master Plans Seth Jones: Maintenance Director 121 Long Street (812) 325-4773 North Vernon IN 47265 (812) 718-1406 Paul Gatewood: Director’s Assistant [email protected] (812) 614-1281 JCPR Master Plan 2020-2024 6 Description of Park Board Overview of the Park Board/Department The Jennings County Park Board was created in 1967 in A more in-depth history of the department can be found anticipation of the transfer of the Muscatatuck State in the past master plans. This overview will primarily Park back to the citizens of Jennings. The park was discuss items in the last planning cycle. deeded back to Jennings in 1968.The ordinance creating the Board was rewritten in 1993 and is supplied in the At the beginning of last planning cycle a cloud based Appendix. RMS (reservation management system) had just been instituted (2014). This has proven to be a much needed The Muscatatuck was the only property under direct technological upgrade, although significant computer management of the Board until 2007 when Eco Lake skills are necessary for staff. Park was given to the County and the Department. The main focus out of last cycle planning was geared The Park Board partners annually with many agencies. towards playgrounds and creating camping at Eco Lake They have provided office space for a regional Experi- Park (ELP). ence Works, Inc administrator. They have had lease agreements in prior years with Jennings County Tour- Although the department had hoped to get camping ism Department, as well as the “Friends of the Muscata- open at ELP, it was always understood that a significant tuck River Society” water quality educator. There is grant and/or county council assistance would be needed. some discussion to reformulate the partnership with the The “Lowe’s Community Partnership Grant” was ap- Tourism Department, which would open the park Visi- plied for (twice), yet the grant was not competitive. tor Center back to a county-wide Visitor Center. Most available grants tend to not grade this upgrade well. This will be discussed later. Twice over the past twenty years, the Park Board struck out to partner with the local municipal recreation de- The department was successful in most other objectives. partment (North Vernon Parks and Recreation), trying After receiving a $30,000 grant for raising $60,000 in a to create one local department with increased staffing, challenge grant, JCPR used these funds, submitted, and budget, etc. This partnership was never formalized, was awarded a $70,000 matching grant for purchase of although supported by both organization directors. playground equipment. This essentially was buy one unit for Muscatatuck and get a free unit for Eco Lake JCPR has partnered with the small town of Vernon on Park. JCPR installed both units saving the county instal- significant projects. An IDNR Urban Forestry Grant as lation costs. well as a State Historical Marker Grant were both gar- nered with the assistance of JCPR. Both groups are JCPR was then awarded funds for a spray-grounds, with working together along with the municipality to fulfill accompanying grants for shade structures and benches. community wide trail opportunities. JCPR had to fund installation of the spray-grounds, but did shade installation in-house. JCPR is subsidized by the county general budget. The Two larger pieces of equipment were itemized in the Parks Department also has a non-reverting fund for cycle. JCPR bought and funded a new truck in 2018, funds generated from their properties. Camping and and a new mower in 2019. building rental are the two main income generators. Road work had been itemized on the Muscatatuck Park’s main road, as had bridge work. Since the main Description of Department Staff park road is a county road that sees significant commut- er traffic, the maintenance is done by the County High- way Dept. Both issues were taken care of. The road at Jennings County Parks and Recreation Department has ELP also had some work completed ($10,000 stone, three full time employees. There is no funding for part- plus grade work). time labor. JCPR is an arm of the county government and works within their framework. Upgrades to the barn structure had been itemized. With the department installing playgrounds this upgrade did JCPR had partnered with the Experience Works pro- not materialize due to time constraints and the use of gram and the National Able Network, providing work- the barn as storage. It was also superseded somewhat in ers in the field and sometimes in the office, yet this op- importance to removal of the older Director's residence, portunity has not been a consistent partner of late. which had also been used as storage. This will clean up the Muscatatuck Park’s front/east entrance. JCPR utilizes a camp host to increase campground se- curity and assist in permit collection. JCPR Master Plan 2020-2024 7 Organizational Chart of Park Board Relative to Local Government Area Planning Jennings County 911 Auditor LEPC County Commissioners: Circuit Court Executive Parks & Recreation Branch Coroner Purdue Extension Clerk/Circuit Courts Recorder County Council: Domestic Violence Superior Court Fiscal & Legislative Branch Emergency Mang. Sup. Court Probation Assessor Treasurer Animal Control Health Department Organizational Chart of Staff Relative to Park Board. Park Board Park Director Park Maintenance Volunteers Assistant Director JCPR Master Plan 2020-2024 8 Overview of the Department’s Management Definition of Planning Area: JCPR is a small department. Three individuals take care of Jennings County Parks and Recreation Department is two parks totaling 344 acres, mowing roughly 75 acres. a county-wide department. This study will overview JCPR had partnered with the County Tourism Department elements throughout the county, yet will focus on a from 1998 to 2009, until it was administratively dissolved. few county owned properties. Historically, the de- These two agencies shared an office assistant that was pro- partment has concentrated on the Muscatatuck Park. vided and funded by the Experience Works Program. They acquired the Eco Lake Park property in 2007. JCPR has had this office assistant position filled intermit- This property has seen some improvements (via three tently since 2009. grants), yet with minimal increased funding to the department. JCPR utilizes a camp host to help check in campers after hours. The camp host limited other duties like cleaning and Jennings County has a wealth of outdoor recreational stocking the bath house. opportunities at the State and National level. These areas will be covered in the county inventory. The Director stays in the office as much as possible when the office assistant is off or the position is unfilled. Oten JCPR, Vernon, and North Vernon have all come to- the office must be closed for the Director to assist the gether to formulate a Community-wide Trails Plan. A crew, consult with contractors, work with the Auditor, etc. few additions and modifications will be discussed later. A significant INDOT grant (1.2 million) funded Each of the three employees work weekends during the the long desired “Gum Street” trail along an aban- busy season (mid April to mid October) with an alternating doned railway (B&O) Bids were let in 2015, with rotation. Weekend hours are usually split in to am/pm construction completed in 2017.The tail was subse- shifts. quentially named the Muscatatuck Trail, and is huge- ly popular. JCPR does not directly program events or programs. They do partner with multiple agencies to run various races The trails committee has been working aggressively (running, color, obstacle/mud, mountain biking) and at on other potential trails and connector.