Flooding, closed swimming pool possible causes
By Bert Lehman
For the second year in a row the number of park shelter rentals in the city of Clintonville declined.
Parks and Recreation Director Justin Mc Auly told the Parks and Recreation Committee about the declining at its Jan. 30 meeting.
“The last two years we have been below average,” Mc Auly said.
Since 2003, the average number of park shelter rentals is 73 rentals per year.
The city experienced its lowest number of rentals in 2008 when there were only 54 park shelter rentals.
“We’ve been above average for awhile (prior to 2018),” Mc Auly said. “Some of it I know for this year was the weather. W.A. Olen Park was under water quite a few times this year. We had to move some people, cancel some (rentals). And I think some people probably just weren’t interested once they drove by the shelters and saw water out there.”
Rentals at the enclosed shelter in W.A. Olen Park have gone up, Mc Auly said. That shelter has been rented 31 times each of the last two years, while the yearly average for that shelter prior to that was 20 rentals per year.
“A lot of that I think is credited to the money we put into the building in updating the building,” Mc Auly said. “We’ve seen an increase in weddings down there as well.”
The Lions Shelter at W.A. Olen Park has seen a decline in rentals from 34 rentals in 2017, to 17 rentals in 2019. Since 2003, the average number of rentals for the Lions Shelter is 17.
Once again, Mc Auly said he feels the decline is due to the wet conditions at different times during the summer at W.A. Olen Park.
“There’s been times the playground equipment has been underwater for a long time during the summer,” Mc Auly said. “Almost every rainfall we have standing water out there. Also, I think more people are pushing toward the enclosed shelter.”
The North Shelter at Bucholtz Park was rented 10 times in 2015, but has declined since.
“That was our last year we had the (swimming) pool,” Mc Auly said. “A lot of the people who rented the North Shelter, that is up in that wooded area at Bucholtz Park in the horse shoe, they utilized the pool. And also, the pool had an outdoor restroom for them. Right now, if you rent that facility you have to go all the way over to the softball shelter, which is over in the second parking lot, so it’s kind of a walk for people.”
After being above average for rentals for three years, the South Shelter at Bucholtz Park saw its number of rentals decline in 2019. Mc Auly said he didn’t know why the number of rentals dropped for that shelter.