TOURISM, LIFESTYLES
WEDNESDAY, FEB. 15, 2017
PROGRESS III— SECTION A
Park officials eye additions to attract more visitors
Warren Scott
The Brooke County Park and Recreation Commission has made plans to add a paintball arena beside the paddle boat house by Brooke Hills Park’s lake and to establish a video game arcade inside the building.
By WARREN SCOTT Staff writer
From the construction of a new swimming pool and new cabins to the addition of facilities for new sports, leaders of local parks are working to attract more visitors from throughout the Tri-State Area. Comprised of 750 acres off state Route 27 near Wellsburg, Brooke Hills Park has lots of space in which to grow, noted Joe Mullenbach, president of the the Brooke County Park and Recreation Commission, which oversees it. And the board has been working to add new facilities to the park while maintaining its scenic environment. Last year crews began construction of a new swimming pool, and it’s expected to be completed in time for this year’s summer season. The 3,000-square-foot pool will have a shallow entry point, making it handicapaccessible,
with an overall depth between 3.5 feet and 7 feet and a slide at each end. Heated and lighted, it will be built near the site of the former pool, which was closed in late 2015 when leaks caused one of its walls to crumble. Troops with the Army Corps of Engineers tore down the old pool, saving the park a great deal of money, said Mullenbach. The $1.2 million construction of the pool will be funded with a $100,000 federal Land and Water Conservation grant and a 30-year loan taken by the park board. Mullenbach said plans call for three prefabricated buildings — the pool’s concession stand, another comprised of changing areas and showers and the third containing the machinery used to operate it — to be added in March. The park also was awarded a $55,000 grant from the Charles and Thelma Pugliese Foundation to establish a cabin in
a wooded area near the Rhododendron Shelter. Mullenbach said the board plans to seek an additional $300,000 to build other cabins at the site. Plans call for the prefabricated buildings to include a kitchen and bathroom, with access to satellite cable television and WiFi. He said lean-tos have been created for the park’s primitive camp sites downhill from Brooke Hills Playhouse, a former pre-Civil War apple barn where musicals, comedies and other plays are staged each summer. Mullenbach said staff with the Larson Design Group of Morgantown and park board members are exploring the potential expansion of rustic trails through the park’s grounds. Selected with the help of the Business Development Corp. of the Northern Panhandle, the consulting firm was hired to aid the board in planning various improvements, large and small.
The largest, a lodge with 15 to 20 rooms, was put on the back burner when the board learned the old pool would have to be replaced. But the board is forging ahead with other additions, including foot golf and disc golf courses. Underground buckets have been installed for foot golf, which involves kicking balls into them soccer-style. A disc golf course replaces balls and holes with Frisbees and metal cages and has been played at Steubenville’s Beatty Park and at Moundsville’s GrandVue Park. Donations for the two courses have been made by the Carl and Jacki Carenbauer Trust Foundation of Wheeling and Bill and Jamie Bayless of Texas. Carl and Bill are former students of park board member Paul “Bud” Billiard. Mullenbach said the park’s basketball court will be repaved and re-marked to serve a handful of sports, including tennis, badminton, volleyball and pickleball,
See PARKS Page 2A Á