BROWNSTOWN
Visitors to the Brownstown Park soon will have a smoother drive through the parking lot.
The low part that’s now crumbled asphalt will be cleared this fall to make way for new asphalt.
The Brownstown Park Board hopes when that work is being done that the same company can redo the upper part of the parking lot that’s paved near the volleyball court, softball field, playgrounds and shelter houses.
Board member Kevin Hanner said that asphalt has been down 11 years.
"It’s going away bad right here, especially where everybody’s turning," he said of the area near the indoor shelter house. "We’re going to lose it, and then we’re going to be in a pickle again. Eleven years is too long to wait for blacktopping your asphalt. We better get it done."
Brownstown Town Councilwoman Sharon Koch, who serves as a liaison to the park board, said the top part of the parking lot needs to be crack filled, sealcoated and striped the correct way.
"So you stay to the right, so there’s a flow and you’re not going left and someone’s coming from the right," she said. "You stay to the right, they stay to the right."
In both areas of the parking lot, the parking spaces will be changed to angled in the center so there is better flow.
"When we get really full, it would be good if everyone’s going (the same direction)," Koch said. "I really prefer them not to be doing a figure eight. The less accidents, the better."
About four years ago, the lower part of the parking lot became wavy and presented a hazard, so the asphalt was broken up and smoothed out.
Years ago before the area became a park, it was a dumping ground for items like old trees, which were dropped in and covered up. That led to the uneven pavement in the parking lot.
The town couldn’t include the park’s parking lot in its application for funding through the Next Level Roads: Community Crossings Initiative because it’s not a street, Koch said, so she is seeking cost estimates for the work.
As part of the park board’s five-year plan that recently received approval from the state, more parking will be added. In 2021, one of the projects involves installing an additional parking lot left of the park entrance off of Bridge Street. Right now, there is a gravel area for people to use as parking.
That project is estimated to cost $50,000.