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Noble County Parks Board to update five-year plan, pursue grants and invite municipal partners
Summary
Board members agreed to inventory nearby municipal park plans, invite local park groups to March/May meetings and use combined findings to prioritize projects and pursue grant funding, including the DNR, ahead of a Sept. 23 summit.
The Noble County Parks and Recreation Board agreed Feb. 25 to begin updating its five-year parks plan and to take steps to make the board competitive for grants, including funding from the state Department of Natural Resources.
Diane Scott, board president, said the change in the board’s authority and structure gives the group an opportunity to “hit the ground running” on strategic priorities. Members discussed starting by collecting recent five-year park plans from local towns and volunteer groups to identify common needs and low-hanging priorities rather than commissioning an immediate, costly master plan.
"Part of this is re-educating ourselves on what's going on in the community," Scott said, urging a data-driven approach that looks at what other municipalities have already prioritized.
Board members proposed inviting representatives from municipal park boards, Noble Trails and other local stakeholders to the March 25 or May 27 meetings to give two-minute high-level summaries of their five-year plans, and to include summaries or written statements for those unable to attend.
Grace Caswell said the annual summit on Sept. 23 could be used to present combined findings and to identify early wins—projects small enough to deliver quickly that would build public trust.
The board discussed several candidate projects and priorities mentioned by members: increasing water access and kayak launch sites, installing informational kiosks, trail connections across the county and improving accessibility for outdoor recreation. Members also noted the need to consider navigability and private-property access when planning water-based projects.
The board authorized Diane Scott and Grace Caswell to compile a list of groups to invite, gather digital copies of existing five-year plans and report back to the board ahead of the fall summit.
Next steps: the board will invite municipal partners to the March 25 meeting, compile existing plans into a shared database for keyword review, and draft a strategic outline to guide grant applications and summit programming.
