St. Joseph County Parks hosts open house to discuss 2024 master plan

 

ST. JOSEPH COUNTY, Ind. - St. Joseph County Parks wants to hear from you on its master plan for 2024.

Over the weekend, the department held its first open house meeting at Bendix Woods County Park to find out what the community wants to see next.

The parks department oversees around eight different parks and trails throughout the county and its master plan will determine where officials will focus their efforts over the next five years.

Hundreds of St. Joseph County neighbors came out to Bendix Woods to see the dozens of proposals the department has prepared for their master plan.

The most recent project, that was born from a meeting like this, was the River Ramble Nature Playscape at St. Patrick's Park after people showed interest in a natural playground setting for children.

The parks department says the community's input is incredibly important.

“Since you live in the community – you want to have parks that represent the things that you like to do, so I think it’s very important that we go through this with your master plan process to make sure the communities needs are being heard, and we’re serving the public the way that they want to be served,” said Leslie Witkowski, Deputy Director of St. Joseph County Parks.

If you missed out on the meeting, you still have a chance to make your opinion heard. The department is sending out a survey a little later this spring to make sure they have as much community input as possible.