Grant money coming to Steubenville Parks and Recreation Department
STEUBENVILLE — More grant money is coming to Steubenville Parks and Recreation Department, this one a $13,000 Nature Works grant for batting cages.
The department previously was awarded $300,000 from Ohio’s capital budget for upgrades at Belleview Pool.
Parks Director Lori Fetherolf said the Nature Works grant, which requires a 20 percent local match, will cover the cost of putting a batting cage at North End Park and Jim Wood field, as well as a new one at Belleview Park.
“Belleview has one but it’s not in great shape and it’s used all the time,” she said. “The other two places don’t have any at all. I’m hoping it will give kids the opportunity (to practice hitting) at the other places.”
She said Belleview Pool’s major overhaul is slated to be done in mid-May. Fort Steuben Maintenance was recently awarded the contract, but work hasn’t started yet due to weather. “As soon as they get the opportunity to get started, they will,” she said.
On tap: Repairing and replacing some concrete decking on the pool that posed a tripping hazard; enclosing the filter, which is currently outside, repairs to the exterior concrete outside the pool; updates to the concession stand so staff can start selling hot food.
“They’re also going to bring lot of stuff up to code,” she added. “For instance, all the ladders we’re supposed to have and all the depth markers supposed to have.” Ladders, she said, are to be placed at least every 10 feet but, by the end of the 2024 swim season, “we were down to one and it was falling apart and the steps broke..”
The concession stand upgrade is “more than just putting a sink in,” she said “We’re making it handicap accessible.”
In the spring they’ll also be painting the pool.
Up to now, she said, “We haven’t had the money to do these kinds of things.”
“Most of my money comes from grants,” she said, pointing out council sets aside $100,000 each year for capital improvements but can burn through it in a hurry when with equipment breakdowns. “We try to take that $100,000 the city gives us for capital improvements and stretch that.”
She said the pool hadn’t been updated since 1989 so there was plenty to do. “My hope would be its another 20 years before we have to do more major work,” she added. “But if we tackle things as they come along it will be a lot easier than waiting until everything needs to be done at once.”
She also pointed out there are other projects still on the horizon, including adding more dugouts, upgrading the locker rooms at the Martin Luther King Recreation Center and possibly installing new lights at the Belleview Park athletic fields, though that will be cost-driven.
She’s also applied for grants to cover the cost of purchasing a trailer so the rec program can “go mobile,” and “take our stuff to where the kids are” in city neighborhoods and at festivals.
Fetherolf also reports pool usage is up significantly, underscoring the importance of keeping facilities in good repair: Since 2017, the year she took charge of the program, attendance is increased 70 percent.
“We’re having huge growth, when you look at it,” she said. “Every year we grow in attendance and activity.”