Oct 1, 2015 3 min read

With the advent of cooler temperatures and with the school year in full swing, park-goers may not be planning as many outings, but plans are still underway to improve two Washington County parks.

Washington County will be seeking bids for the construction of two shelters at Mingo Creek park to replace those that were built around the time of the park’s inception in the 1970s and, next year, to build three new shelters at an approximate cost of $150,000.

“They have reached the end of their useful life,” said Lisa Cessna, director of the Washington County Planning Commission, after Wednesday’s agenda-setting session. The replacement shelters will be built on existing concrete pads.

Cessna said the style of the shelters hasn’t yet been decided upon, but they may resemble the newest pair of structures in Cross Creek park and one in Ten Mile Creek County Park, Clarksville.

The county will also advertise for proposals for design and obtaining permits from the state Department of Environmental Protection for a three-mile paved trail in Cross Creek park to connect County Park Road, near Route 50, and Lynn Portal Road.

Cessna declined to give a completion date for the trail. “The driving factor will be the DEP permit,” she said, noting that many environmental factors must be taken into consideration because the trail will be “as close to the lake as possible.”

Both the shelter and trail projects were recommended in a master plan for county parks that the commissioners adopted last year.

“We have walked it with DEP and the conservation district,” Cessna told the commissioners. This trail will eventually be connected to a trail to be constructed by Range Resources.

The county will also be advertising for proposals for the design and permitting of a widened road on Thompson Hill in Cross Creek park to make it safer for vehicles hauling boats to and from the launch that was dedicated this past spring.

Don’t plan on using Cross Creek park’s older boat launch or fishing pier one day later this month.

“Weather permitting, we will be closing County Park Road on the Route 50 side of the park, the fishing pier and boat launch on Tuesday, Oct. 20, so that we can set two new restroom facilities with a crane,” Cessna wrote in an email. The closure lasts for only that day.

At the request of the purchasing department, the county will be purchasing three double prefabricated restrooms plus a single restroom from CXT Concrete Buildings, based in Spokane, Wash., at a cost of $164,000 through a state contract that does not require bidding.

“We’re slowly replacing all the restroom facilities and shelters in Mingo except for the round one by the observatory,” Cessna said.

A house, which the county purchased at a Tax Claim Bureau sale a few months ago, still stands at the intersection of Thompson Hill Road and Route 844 at Cross Creek park’s West Middletown entrance.

“We haven’t decided what to do with the house,” Cessna said. The enclosed porch, which was not part of the original structure, may be removed.

The county commissioners on Thursday passed all the park-related agenda items, to be paid for from county oil and gas revenues, by votes of 3-0.