By Lisa Carolin
A recommendation to Chelsea City Council to pursue a Border-to-Border (B2B) Timbertown project was approved by the Chelsea Parks and Recreation Commission at its Aug. 2 meeting.
Jeff Hardcastle, Huron Waterloo Pathways Initiative board chair, spoke to the Parks Commission, and said that with the B2B Trail looping through Vets Park and Timbertown, the city could allow it to be recognized as an official access point of the B2B Trail.
Parks Commission members have been discussing possible improvements to Timbertown, and Hardcastle said that if a project with the city is pieced together, those improvements could include lighting, parking, and drainage, as well as improvements to the play area. He said the collaborative project could be done in 2023.
The Parks Commission also talked about which park projects would be priority expenditures for the 2022-23 budget.
Chelsea City Manager Roy Atkinson and Chelsea’s Interim Planning Coordinator Jamie Gorenflo, each attended their first Parks Commission meeting and shared their enthusiasm for supporting future parks projects.
The Dog Park is one of those projects. Parks Commission Member Patrick Muldoon said that people have been using a hose in the park to spray water on their dogs and it’s creating a mud pit. Atkinson advised removing the hose and educating the public about using the water just for water bowls. Parks Commission Chair Shawn Personke suggested putting something about the hose in the commission’s upcoming Dog Park Survey.
Joe Ziolkowski, a representative of the Main Street Park Alliance, gave the commission an update on the group’s efforts to build a park in the former Federal Screw Works 2.6 acre property. He said that a lot of environmental testing is going on and will dictate what can get built there. He said that the Main Street Park Alliance has received a lot of support from members of the Chelsea community.
The Parks Commission will meet next on Sept. 6 at 9 a.m.
