Organizational News
Board of Directors Board Directors sometimes need to step down due to life changes or demands. Since Spring, we have lost a few who served Friends of the Parks well. We expect they will continue to actively support Friends of Johnsburg Parks: Judy Brown, Jill Broderick, Steve Kahrs, Ashley Snow, Jane Peter, and Joe San Antonio. Thank you. We embrace our new board members: Jake Gaechter, Shaun Hazlitt, Carrie Mason, Michele Pearsall, and Lily Gaechter.
Promotional Presence Upcoming goals are to create a representative logo and a useful website that informs the public of FJP. Our promotional team is working to highlight each town park, offer a comprehensive events calendar, and keep the community up to date. We are also pursuing membership goals and seeking sponsors and grantors. Our Facebook and Instagram sites have been avidly sought out. Thanks to Julia Howard, Lily Gaechter, and Dick Carlson.
Programs and Events The tag team of Howard and Gaechter, with Michele Pearsall, gave the community two new serial programs this past summer: Thursday night line-dancing and a series of outdoor experiences that foster health and understanding of nature, which we called Natural Connections. We plan further programming for next year. Our last Natural Connections program, Silent Wings, a 1-hr program on raptors featuring live birds of prey, will be held at TPCC on November 11, 2023. More Info HERE
Park News
Ski Bowl Park: Vision 2030 An updated masterplan, called Vision 2030, for the development of Ski Bowl Park was finished by LA Group, of Saratoga Springs, NY in July. This new plan merged the top-ranking ideas gathered from a community survey conducted in 2022 with the earlier masterplan which utilized the park acreage where the sand pit has been dug. It moves the amphitheater to a better location away from the town and county highway garages. It adds a skating pavilion and a level pathway for walking. It creates a new entry road that is accessible by the highway departments and Gore Mt.’s new lodge. Additionally, it creates a parking lot that will accommodate summer and winter visitors and residents. FJP has asked the town board to solicit bids for the specific engineering design work needed for Phase I.
Construction Phases of park venues Friends has recommended a construction timetable to the town board to have this multi-phased project concluded by 2028. We can do no more. The Town Board will determine the timetable they wish to follow.
PHASE I (2 years): Grading of park’s sand pit area. Building a new entry road opposite 28N. 2 Youth ballfields. New playing courts. An efficient parking area.
Phase 2 (1 year): Skating pavilion. ADA-level pathway with fitness bump-outs
Phase 3 (1-1.5 years): Amphitheater: performance building and seating
Phase 4 (1 year)* Skate park or dirt bike pump track
Phase 5 (2-3 years)* Community Center with indoor rec venues and park administration
*Both Phases 4 & 5 are contingent upon the relocation of the highway operations and the transfer station.
Fine-tuning the Plan Vision 2030 places the venues the community envisions on a map; further engineering design work is necessary for each specific venue. We will ask interested folks to collaborate with the design consultant to convey what is important to consider about each particular venue. For instance, the ball players will have an opportunity to sit down with the designer. The pickleball and tennis players will have a chance to share what is important for the courts. We will need interested folks to consult about the amphitheater. If you have a suggestion or concern, please call the Chair at 518-251-3739.
Funding Capital Projects Building the venues in the park will be expensive. However, the Friends will take up the challenge of acquiring public and private funding for these capital projects. In addition, the Town Board will need to pursue a construction bond payable over 20 years to lighten the cost to taxpayers.
How can you help? How quickly the Vision 2030 is realized will depend on positive public support. The Town Board members need to hear, enthusiastically and frequently, from anyone excited about seeing forward movement toward making one of the best parks in all of NYS. Remember, it takes a lot of positives to wipe out just one negative comment. Board members need to be assured they are doing what the community wants; after all, that is why they are in office.
Riverfront Park The Riverfront Stakeholders met three times to prioritize the needs of the park which include: painting, parking, better rafting access to the river, landscaping, pathway steps rehabilitation, and renovation of the stage. A grant request for the work was submitted by Warren County planners, on behalf of the Town of Johnsburg in July. An award will initiate a transition in ownership from Warren County to the town of the land around the train station, the Depot Museum, and the stage area and pavilion. The land value will lessen any costs to the town’s required 50% grant match.