Summer is on its way to the Grand Marais Recreation Area and Campground. On May 1, the Grand Marais Park Board made a list of capital improvement priorities as it does each spring. Top on the list were site upgrades to high-value sites, the Community Connection pedestrian entrance into the park, a new office/ bathhouse complex, adding toddler equipment to the playground, and paving roads.
Park Manager Dave Tersteeg said the park continues to need additional large, upgraded sites for the newer slide-out RVs that need drive-through access and more electric power. The park’s master plan calls for minimizing loss of sites, but making some sites bigger would require losing a few. New regulations require larger sites than many of the ones currently in the park, but those sites have been grandfathered in and can stay as they are.
Tersteeg said he would develop a list of recommendations for site changes.
Also in the master plan but not on the immediate priority list is a structure that could accommodate large groups of people. Tersteeg said, “There is a need for an events/wedding pavilion.” People are looking for a beautiful space on the water that could accommodate 200 people, he said.
Other projects that will impact the park are in the hands of entities outside the park, such as a new countyowned community center to include a pool and a new ball field, abandoning use of the street and public utilities departments’ buildings when new facilities can be found, a new boat launch funded by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR), and a new dog pound somewhere else in Grand Marais.
DNR boat launch
The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) is still planning to build a new boat launch in the southwest corner of the harbor. Park Manager Dave Tersteeg and park board member Bill Lenz recently went over preliminary plans with DNR staff, who said it might be built in 2014 or 2015.
Tersteeg said he and Lenz suggested that the plans include more access for regular vehicles (without boats), more open space, and walkways for pedestrians. He said the DNR plans to fund the project but does not want to see an events pavilion there as outlined in the park’s master plan because parking needs would compete. Park board member Paul Anderson said there would at some point be a lot of room for parking where the city’s public works buildings now stand.
Lenz said they would continue to discuss plans with the DNR.
Summer preparations in campground
“Reservations continue to be really strong,” Tersteeg told the board. The Fourth of July and Fisherman’s Picnic are all booked up, Office Manager Samantha Williams said.
Summer help is arriving, Tersteeg said. They will have five seasonal maintenance workers who will hopefully provide the extra help they didn’t have last summer. They needed more help downtown on the weekends when they only had four seasonal maintenance workers.
“The grass: I can hear it growing,” said Tersteeg, “so we better start mowing!”
Summer pool hours
Summer staff has been hired, and regular summer hours at the pool will begin on June 4. The pool will be open from noon to 9:00 p.m. on Saturday, May 26 and from noon to 8:00 p.m. on Sunday, May 27 – Memorial Day weekend – and will be open on Sundays after that. Friday, May 18 will be the last dollar night until fall. Summer prices start Memorial Day weekend.
Swim lessons have been scheduled for the summer and log rolling is in full swing on Mondays and Tuesdays.
Manager Tersteeg had been asked at the last park board meeting to investigate the cost of a new pool liner to replace the one that has been there since 1987. It is rough and has needed repeated patching. Tersteeg said in an April 26 memo to the board that bids solicited in 2007 had ranged from $27,906 to $79,300. “The 2012 pool budget does not allocate enough capital to afford refinishing the big pool,” his memo concludes.
Board Chair Walt Mianowski asked what it would cost to rehab the pool building, but Bill Lenz, also on the city council, said the city’s attorney said they should not discuss pool rehabilitation at all while they are dealing with a contract the city previously made with Burbach Aquatics regarding using that company for future pool projects. The city continues to stay out of the county’s plans to building a new community center with a pool because Burbach declared it would take the city to court if it became involved in that project.
Golf report
“The course is greening up.” That was Gunflint Hills Manager Mike Kunshier’s summary of conditions at the golf course. The course had been open for a couple of weeks already.
Kunshier said they had joined “Wild North Golf,” which advertises courses in the Northland. They got a startup 50-percent-off price of $450 ($50/hole) for the season.
There will be no mixed league this summer because there is not enough interest among golfers. Many of those who were active in mixed league in the past are older and no longer golfing.
Kunshier said he was expecting a new used mower that would cost the city $20,000 less than a new one. The year 2002 was the last time the course purchased a new mower, and that one was previously used, also.
Board chair Walt Mianowski asked when the old golf course pickup would be replaced. About the pickup, Park Manager Dave Tersteeg said, “It brings down our image!” The parks department is expecting to get an old pickup from the public utilities department when it gets replaced.
Harbor Park cleanup day
The Grand Marais Garden Club and park staff will meet at 9:00 a.m. Monday, May 21 to beautify Harbor Park for the summer. They will deadhead flowers and trim garden plants. Community members are invited to come and help.
New meeting time
The park board changed its meeting time to 4:30 p.m. on the first Tuesday of each month, one hour earlier than it has been meeting.
Beauty in the park
Chair Mianowski talked about numerous scenic vistas throughout the park and shoreline area. “There’s a lot of beauty in the harbor,” he said, “and a lot of people living around here don’t know we have it.”
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