WILLISTON--Williams County Park Board (WCPB) has been formulating a Park System Master Plan to establish a long-range vision to support the future recreational needs in the county. This plan is based on goals, development, and improvements the park board will prioritize based on funding, needs, and input from the residents.
“We wanted to find different ways to reach people and let them know what we were doing,” said Candace Amberg, Senior Landscape Architect of WSB & Associates, a design and consulting firm working with Williams County Park Board.
“We wanted to find different ways to reach people and let them know what we were doing," Candace Amberg, Senior Landscape Architect of WSB & Associates
WCPB implemented an online survey several months ago to provide feedback for the consulting firm. Amberg says she felt there was ample participation that provided the input for the next step in the process, which was to incorporate the information provided by the surveys and needs of each park and bring it to the public. Those meetings were held at the Tioga Community Center on Nov. 16 and the Williston Community Library on Nov. 17. Both events took place in an open-house format.
Amberg said, “We can’t do all of this at once, so we will be sort of phasing it in, and we want to know what the public's priorities are as we implement each improvement.” The parks in Williams County are Blacktail Dam, Epping-Springbrook Dam, Kota Ray Dam, Little Egypt, McGregor Dam, and Lookout Park. The primary plan's goals are posted on the WCPB website.
Goals at Epping/Springbrook Dam are improvement on the entrance drive, separation of day use recreation area and campground recreation area, improvement on camping experience, and improvement on options for four-season use. Goals at Blacktail dame include the separation of thru-traffic to private lots, improvement on safety, improvement on camping experience, and improvement on options for four-season use. Kota Ray’s plan goals are improvement on entrance drive, implementing new recreation use, improvement on camping experience, and better campsite organization. At Little Egypt, the plan is the incorporation of historic and interpretive pieces into site design, highlighting importance of day-use beaches, separation of day-use beaches and campground, improvement on camping experience and improvement on options for four-season use. The goals at McGregor Dam are the addition of a day-use recreational area for local communities, improvement and expansion of camping area, and removal of the north access into the park.
The final plan is expected to be released later in the year.
