GUILDERLAND — Town parks usually provide green space, a playground or two, maybe even a baseball diamond or tennis court with a pavilion to have cookout.
But the town of Guilderland is asking, ‘Why stop there"’

Supervisor Kenneth Runion is calling for an all-out, multi-seasonal recreation center — all without a parks fee.
"Basically, we have 600 acres in the center of town where you can go golfing, play baseball, basketball or tennis, go to the Guilderland Performing Arts Center, have a garden, or go swimming, biking, skiing, snowshoeing, walking, or hiking, fishing, and simply enjoy yourself any time of year," said Runion

The supervisor has earlier cited studies showing municipalities attract new residents and satisfy current residents if they offer recreational opportunities.

Runion wants it to come together at Tawasentha.

Tawasentha Park, named for the veil that Henry Wadsworth Longfellow made famous in Son of Hiawatha, is in the center of town. Currently the park borders the town-owned Western Turnpike Golf Course, the largest municipal facility, and is broken up into several different sections.

Runion wants it all to be connected.

The 2007 town budget draft of $18 million makes way for an improved park system with Tawasentha at its focus. Next year’s total parks budget is $709,072, up less than 5 percent from this year’s $676,419. The 2007 expenditures are just $7,000 more than 2005.

The town is keeping costs down by having different town departments cooperate, sharing equipment so it doesn’t sit idle, and also uses college students for interns to do park work, saving in salary costs, Runion said.
"This is something I’ve been trying to get people to do for five or six years now," Runion said, adding, "Sharing is a priority."

One of the key elements to connecting all of these natural amenities, Runion told The Enterprise, is to put a bridge in Tawasentha to cross the Normanskill.
"The problem is we have no linkage for the trails"We need to cross the Normanskill," Runion said during last month’s budget workshop. "It would take several couple-hundred-acre parks and turn it into one whole 600-acre park.
The town has applied for numerous grants from the county and the state for park projects, but, said Runion, most are denied because there is no connectivity to the trails. They are what are called looping trials, and essentially "go nowhere," said Runion.

With a bridge over the river, trails can be connected, the park will be unified, and grant applications will have a much better chance of being successful, according to Runion.
"We always applied for grants for looping trails and it goes nowhere because there’s no linkage"This opens up future avenues for possible grants," he told The Enterprise last week.

Work is already underway on connecting trails that will run all the way from the golf course to the winter recreation area and down to the Normaskill where a bridge will be placed next summer. There will be both summer and winter trails, for hiking and biking, or skiing and snowshoeing.
"If you put in that bridge, it just opens up this spectacular land," said Runion. "If we tried to duplicate what we’ve got there, it would cost millions of dollars to add all of those features."

The engineering plans and surveying are already underway for the $96,000 bridge and money has been allocated for it in the preliminary 2007 budget to be voted on in November.

Concrete bridge abutments will be poured next spring, Runion said, and the bridge will in place by the middle of next summer. Installing the bridge will take only two or three days because once the forms are in place, which act as anchors to the bridge, a prefabricated bridge will brought in by truck and placed over the stream with a crane.

The bridge abutments, along with rental cost for equipment, will added another $25,000 to $50,000 to the project. Town labor will used.

Park’s center

To complement the park initiative, the town’s Parks and Recreation Department is moving across the street from Tawasentha Park at the old Inga Barth’s florist shop on Route 146. The sale of the building was closed a couple of weeks ago, and now it is being renovated as the new department headquarters.

The town will officially open the building later this fall.
"I got a telephone call from the owner of the building," Runion said when asked about the move. "I was hesitant at first, but then I thought about it for a while and decided it was a perfect spot."

There are greenhouses attached to the building, which the town will use to grow flowers for its municipal landscaping and town-wide beautification projects.
In conjunction with the community gardens up the road a few hundred yards, the new building can help build "more of an educational environment," according to Runion.
"People run out to Lowe’s and Home Depot and buy plants grown in southern climates and expect them to grow perfectly in their backyards. Now we can teach people what grows well here along with identifying indigenous plants," Runion said.

The Parks and Recreation Department is currently located behind Town Hall, and, after the move, its former offices will be used for other town functions.
"We’re maxing out of space over here," Runion said, commenting that the Town Hall does not have room for anymore departments.

The Guilderland Rockclimbing Adventure Building or GRAB, located next to the community gardens and across Route 146 from the Winter Recreation area, will also be a part of the park overhaul.

The 2007 budget allows for the replacement the roof on the barn and also adds restrooms. Right now, there are only portable toilets on the premise.

Pool rehab

Runion also said he wants a new pool.
"It’s time to look at rehabbing the pool," Runion told fellow board members at the budget workshop.

The pool and the pool house were built in the late 1960’s, according to town records, and they have recently begun to show their age, according to Runion. The pool renovations will include the pool itself, the pool house, and the immediate surrounding area.

This winter, the pool house will be renovated in time to open next spring. Then, at the end of next September, the concrete for the new pool will be poured so that it will be ready for the following season.

The Tawasentha pool will not close for the renovations, Runion said.

Town labor will also be used for the pool project, and both the pool and the bridge at Tawasentha will be bonded to cover costs.

As for the golf course, there will be no increase in greens fees or memberships, only a slight increase for cart use due to energy costs. This wasn’t a great year for the golf course because of the weather, said Runion, but he added that the attendance was similar to last year’s.

The only thing that cannot be added, said Runion, is an outdoor ice skating rink. Because of the difficulties involved with maintenance and weather issues, it simply is not feasible.
Runion concluded, "There will be something there for everyone."