An engineering firm will help the Kanawha County Parks Commission develop plans for future projects and to find grant money for those projects, parks commissioners decided Wednesday.
The board voted to contract with GAI Consultants, a national engineering firm with an office in Charleston, for up to $5,000 to develop a concept plan for the projects, including some at Coonskin and Meadowood parks.
At Coonskin, the work would include repaving a river trail along the Elk River and installing a new boat launch. At Meadowood in Tornado, it would include a camping area, trails and parking.
Once a plan is developed, the board can begin to apply for grant funding for the projects, Parks Commission President Allen Tackett said.
"The reason I wanted them to come and talk to the board is that we really don't have a master plan that's shovel-ready to in turn do projects that we can apply for grants," Tackett told the commission. "If we can have them prepare a master plan for Kanawha County Parks, to where we can apply and be shovel-ready and apply for these grants, it would give us the opportunity to do the things that we've talked about doing that we really don't have the plans to do."
After the meeting, Tackett said he expects the firm to take about six months to do the master plan. It could take another two or three years to get grant funding, he said.
"I think we could probably make some of those projects happen within the next to two three years," Tackett said.
He added, "we're trying to work on projects to get it to where we can have more people to utilize the properties that we have and make it more of a park atmosphere."
Todd Schoolcraft and Dave Gilmore, of GAI's Community Solutions Group, told the board that the company also does grant writing as a free service with the expectation that groups consider using the firm for engineering services.
GAI has done design work on several parks in the area, including Haddad Riverfront Park in Charleston and Valley Park in Hurricane, they said.
Coonskin Park's current boat launch is difficult to get to, parks director Jeff Hutchinson said.
While the projects at Coonskin and Meadowood have been identified, Hutchinson said the plan is not limited to those project. The firm may be able to find grants for other improvement projects for other parks, Hutchinson said.
In other business, commissioners:
n Scheduled another public hearing on a proposal to build a multi-sport complex at Shawnee Regional Park in Institute. The hearing is scheduled for May 16 at West Virginia State University.
n Voted to buy new guns for the county parks police department. After selling the current weapons, the board will spend $5,000 on 10 Glock guns for park police.
n Voted to spend $2,000 to buy a new dump truck for Big Bend Golf Course in Tornado. The golf course superintendent has been using his own dump truck for projects already, board members were told. The board agreed to pay the superintendent $2,000 to purchase the truck.
n Voted to buy a new phone system for Coonskin Park from ACC for $6,944. Hutchinson said the park has had its current phone system for more than 20 years. "We do need to do something because our system is antiquated," he told the board. The new phone system will be voiceover IP, Hutchinson said. The purchase will include 12 to 14 phones, including one at the park's driving range - something the driving range hadn't had before, Hutchinson said.
n Voted to approve a $32,900 bid for pesticide at all of its parks and golf courses.
Reach Lori Kersey at Lori.Kersey@wvgazettemail.com, 304-348-1240 or follow @LoriKerseyWV on Twitter.