By PAULENE POPARAD

Exactly twelve months ago this week 13 of 16 property owners in Dune Meadows signed a petition asking the Porter Park Board not to install a $16,500 play structure slated for installation at the subdivision’s undeveloped park.

Tuesday, Dune Meadows resident Carrie Ailes told the Park Board the neighborhood’s dynamics have changed and she presented a wish list from 16 property owners who want the small park improved.

According to the Park Board, they’ll have to wait.

Member Juan Magana said when the board was told residents didn’t want the playground, developing Dune Meadows was placed last on the park’s five-year master plan, which next will be updated in 2008. However, the board said as other priorities like renovating Hawthorne Park’s ballfield dugouts; remodeling the Hawthorne community building’s restrooms; and making improvements at Indian Springs, Lake Charles and Porter Cove parks are accomplished, Dune Meadows would move up.

Park Superintendent Jim Miller blamed miscommunication last year for opposition to the play equipment. Ailes said neighbors were told there would be basketball hoops, street lights and that the play structure was going to be near the street.

Board members thanked Ailes for her initiative and the residents’ for their interest, but according to President Bud Tilden, “All we can do is put this on the back burner.” The board, like the Town Council, is hampered by slow property-tax draws that limit cash flow and the park’s ability to undertake more than merely making payroll and paying utilities.

Ailes said Dune Meadows residents were offered 11 park amenities to indicate which they preferred. Receiving the most votes were a gazebo, benches, landscape lighting/landscaping, a pier with handrail and safety gate at the swampy green pond that abuts the subdivision and park property, low-impact play equipment and a picket fence around the pond.

Member Nancy Whisler told Ailes the play structure would have been installed last fall but the Park Board was urged not to proceed. Magana said it’s good to know the residents’ current wishes, even if “we have to put that at the bottom right now.” Ailes was encouraged to remain in contact with the Park Department.

Later in the meeting, Miller said he’s been in contact with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers about cleaning up the pond, located on the north side of U.S. 20 at Oak Hill Road. The town would need to make application with the Corps to cut off dead trees protruding from the pond and to drag them ashore for removal, but the soil in the pond cannot be disturbed, according to Miller. Eventually an aerator would need to be installed to help clean the water. Meanwhile, Miller said he is clearing overgrowth and suckers near the park.

On another matter, Garry Cutter told the board he plans to pitch the idea of resurrecting the Porter Freedom Four walk/run as a part of the 2005 Taste of Porter; the event would be a fundraiser to benefit the Park Department. Cutter later said the race began in 1977 and in its last running in approximately 1990 it drew about 350 runners on a four-mile course beginning at Yost School and ending in Hawthorne Park.

Although three members of the Taste of Porter Committee, which governs the one-day festival, were present, organizer Nancy Whisler said the committee, not the Park Board, would have to be presented with the idea. Cutter said if the town’s residents would line the street and support the runners, and if businesses would donate money to help offset race expenses, in time the event could become as popular as it once was.

It was reported cost estimates are being sought for an initial round of testing in Porter parks for the possible presence of arsenic, which sometimes is present in pressure-treated woods. Also noted was that the Chesterton Art Center donated $700 for the use of Hawthorne and related electrical expenses for this summer’s Chesterton Art Fair. Due to a conflict with the next Park Board meeting, which would occur on Election Day Nov. 2, the meeting was rescheduled to 7 p.m. Nov. 4 at the community building.

Posted 10/6/2004