Broadwater County parks master-plan designs go online; rod-and-gun club raises site and cost concerns

Broadwater County Parks and Recreation Board members met informally March 17, 2025, in the Commissioner's Room but did not have a quorum; they discussed a design workshop and online survey for a parks master plan and heard public comment about site limitations and likely costs for shooting-sports and field facilities.

The board is keeping conceptual designs for Centerville, Canton and other sites online for two weeks for public review after canceling a second in-person workshop for financial and timing reasons. Board participants said the county received eight attendees at the first library workshop and that the online designs include one revised concept that adds a multi-use building to the Centerville layout.

The master plan matters because it will guide which parcels the board or county recommends for development and which projects the county will pursue grant funding for. A staff member said the plan will help the board, once complete, “make a recommendation to the commissioners on which piece of property should be developed to what capacity and then we can pursue grants.” That same staff member urged residents with a strong interest in a particular recreation type to weigh their online responses toward the property best suited for that activity.

Board members and public commenters emphasized the survey results and site constraints. Brad Peck, a representative of the Broadway Rod and Gun Club, said he reviewed the online survey and a recently circulated conceptual plan and warned that the survey placed baseball considerably lower than activities such as outdoor adventure and shooting/archery. “When I look at the survey ... baseball is significantly behind others,” Peck said, and he asked whether the county is still seeking public input on what to build or is now only deciding placement of facilities.

Peck outlined practical limits for trap shooting at the club’s current and potential sites: a trap facility needs flat ground and substantially more power than sporting clays; current sites lack spare electrical capacity and usable flat plots. He said mining constraints near Indian Creek complicate expansion there and that relocating or building suitable trap facilities would be expensive. “When we looked at it last time, it's about a million dollars to pull it off, between a building and ... just what building's going on right now is ridiculous,” Peck said (amount described in the meeting as approximate). He also said the club had already invested roughly $85,000 into a structure at its current site and uses multiple gasoline generators for machines, costing “$500 or $600 in fuel” for a typical two-hour weekly session.

Peck described user demand and youth involvement: sporting clays and trap draw different participant groups, but trap participation among youth has grown, and he said 4‑H currently has 19 Broadwater County children participating in trap safety and shooting programs on weekends. He urged the board to consider sites beyond Townsend town center — for example, land to the south or other donor opportunities — because large multiuse or single-purpose tournament complexes may require land or infrastructure the county does not currently control.

Board members noted constraints that shaped design choices, including floodplain limits that affect where permanent courts or structures should be sited. The draft designs intentionally preserve land in some areas to allow less-permanent uses — for example, fields or trails that could be removed later if a donor-funded golf course expansion took place. The plans also include simpler, flood-tolerant amenities such as a chain-link dog park that can recover after periodic flooding.

Separately, the board discussed a request from a local leadership class to support a tennis-court resurfacing project. Don (staff member) described the program — Big Sky Big Leadership, a nine-month class run by Broadwater County Extension — and said a class group wants to resurface the county tennis courts and may apply for a grant. Don said a letter of support from the parks board had not been drafted and recommended preparing one to bring to the next meeting for the board’s formal vote because the body could not approve it at the March 17 session without a quorum.

No formal actions or votes occurred at the meeting because there was no quorum; the minutes could not be approved and the letter of support will be drafted and returned for formal consideration at a future meeting when members can vote. The design materials remain available online for two weeks to collect feedback before the board reconvenes and proceeds with finalizing the master-plan recommendations to the county commissioners.

Next steps: the designs will remain posted online for public comment for two weeks; staff will draft a letter of support for the tennis-court resurfacing group and present it at the next meeting for the board’s vote; and the parks master plan process will continue to collect public input that staff says will inform which parcels the board recommends for grants and development.