About 10 years in the making, a proposed new activity center is moving forward at Sunset Hill Farm County Park.

Supervisor of Parks Mike Howton, a member of the planning committee, told the park board Thursday that the original plans for the new building have been changed. Instead of a building that would look like a barn and serve as a banquet hall and conference center, the revised design calls for a rustic lodge that could be used for a number of purposes, but with a focus on education, such as for recreational or naturalist programming.

“After 10 years ... circumstances have changed,” Howton said, noting that other private facilities have since been built that offer banquet hall rentals.

Howton said the planning committee met with the architect for the barn project, and the architect is now preparing a new blueprint to reflect the revisions. No cost estimate has been prepared yet for the two-story, 50 by 100 square foot building, tentatively planned to be constructed on the site of the former Murray House at Sunset Hill.

Howton said the new building would include a warming kitchen and large open space that groups could use for meetings or other events. The building would also include office space and areas for park programming. Also planned is a large deck facing the west.

As soon as the new plans are drawn up, the building committee hopes to nail down the final costs and proceed as soon as possible, he said.

The new activity center is supported by the non-profit Porter County Parks Foundation, which years ago sponsored a fundraising campaign for the project.

“The foundation’s happy that we are moving ahead,” said park board and foundation member Ruth Jarnecke.

Also Thursday, park board attorney Dave Hollenbeck announced a land donation of a one-half acre parcel surrounded by the park department’s Michaels property on Meridian Road in Liberty Township.

The half-acre is a rectangular piece that was a “bump out” from the rest of the Michaels property. The half-acre is being donated by the DeKoker family.

Hollenbeck said he hopes that by next month’s park board meeting, he will have the land donation paperwork completed with a deed executed.

The park board agreed last year to purchase the 67-acre Michaels property, which is bounded on the south by the CSX railroad tracks, on the west by C.R. 50W, and on the east by Meridian Road. The acquisition is taking place over three years, at a total purchase price of $889,000, funded through the park department’s allotment of county income tax funds.

Hollenbeck said the park board is now gearing up to make its second year installment toward the Michaels acquisition.

In other matters at Thursday’s county park board meeting:

*County Park Superintendent Ed Melendez said he is working on 2010 proposals in anticipation of the county’s upcoming budget hearings. He said he is putting together budget plans for increases, as well as possible funding cuts.

*Supervisor of Recreation Gayle O’Connor said the last Parks-to-School program will be given today. Staff members are now gearing up for Sunset Hill Farm’s summer day camps, with registrations starting to come in. Brochures have gone out in the Duneland and East Porter County Schools.

*Supervisor of Brincka-Cross House and Gardens Paula Ramos said staff from the Porter County Convention, Recreation and Visitor Commission came out to tour the new Furnessville park. Ramos suggested that a firm date is set for the park’s opening, saying that this was a key issue for the tourism staff. “It was a real pleasure to have the tourism folks out,” she said.

*Park Manager Matt Howton, in a report on ongoing maintenance, noted that flooding problems continue in the basement of the superintendent’s residence at Sunset Hill.

Posted 5/8/2009