Archive: Around Town

In 1987 Steve Colt became the Town of Lansing Recreation Director.  In parts one and two of our in-depth interview he talked about what brought him to the position, and about how the recreation department has grown.  But one of Lansing's strong points is its parks, so in this final installment that is what we talked about.

Lansing has four parks: the beautiful and constantly used Myers Park, the sleepier Ludlowville Park, the ball fields, including Christopher Field, near the Town Hall, and a smaller ball field near the Highway Department.  Recently a 25 year lease was signed with the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) for the Town to manage Salt Point, a jut of land on Cayuga Lake just north of Myers Park.  As this area is developed it will also be part of Colt's bailiwick.

Lansing Star: Let's talk about parks.  Did you see this coming in any way?

Steve Colt: The parks part was just sort of a thing you looked at and said, you look at other places and it's always called 'parks and recreation.'  It was always a logical lead-in to come in under this office.  Really part of the reason why we have grown into what we are is that it is really a two-faced thing.  We have done some really neat things in the parks and it's been a nice addition to this job way back when it started in the late 80s.

LS: You said the four parks did exist at that time.

SC: Well, the main park was obviously Myers.  The other locations that are currently now parks were there physically but the wasn't really much there.  Not much in organization or development.

The Parks and Recreation Department's full time staff (left to right) Steve Colt, Maureen Muggeo , Patrick Tyrrell

LS: I just read in the book about Ludlowville that Ludlowville Park was the first park the town had.  It seems there were things there like the gazebo and things before.  Had they petered out by the time you came on?

SC: Well, when I came in it was really fairly rough.  The little pockets of communities and towns at that point had broken apart and became seen as one big town of Lansing even though there was really no sense of centralization, no center point in those times.

Ludlowville had huge potential with the historical waterfalls in the back of the park.  I think when I first came in there was a real small playground area and that was it.  The pieces of the playground were set in different spots of the park.

When we came in one of the first things we did was shore up and make safe the fence that runs along the back border of the park that is the overlook for the falls and a creek that obviously needed to be done right up front for safety issues.  

We did that.  We tried to improve the grounds by way of safety inspections through the town's insurance carriers.  We were apprised of certain pieces of playground equipment that were no longer accepted even though some of the parts we had to get rid of were some of the neatest things over the years.  But by law, we had to do that.


When we did that we moved them and clustered the playground into the area that it is currently at now on the side of the border of the park.  We had a lot of help from Steve Lauzen at Parkitects who offered a lot of expertise who happened to live in Ludlowville.

We developed a nice playground area, we put in half basketball court.  I think people saw we wanted to make strides down there.  I think it was about the same time the residents of Ludlowville were rolling over new families were coming in.  They really fell in love with that little hamlet down there and a lot of new pride came out and they helped to reestablish some gardens and some plantings down there.

Then a group of volunteers who were very talented people from Ludlowville came together and basically built that gazebo, a sort of Victorian style gazebo from scratch, and put that together.  That was probably mid to late 90s.

LS: So the original I read about in the history...

SC: Was pretty well gone by the time I came on the scene.  Since then we've continued on putting on some cosmetic fencing.  

The main thing we have strived to stay on top of over the past few years is to have a plan for our parks.  That includes things to improve the esthetics every year and to absolutely try to improve our plantings every year.  We have developed a tree-planting program to be able to add two trees and re-foliate places in all of our parks as some of the canopy gets old and dies off or has to be taken down for safety reasons.  We are kind of excited about that in that we have had some success with the replanting project.

Another thing that has taken off from that are people in the community that have seen this and have gotten on board with living memorials either in the form of a straight donation, or whether it be Girl Scouts which happened last year, or a current club, or as family members pass away and maybe the family member who passed was fond of the parks and their relatives are making donations in the names of trees.  This is in all the parks from the ball fields to Ludlowville to Myers.

LS: Myers is obviously the focus when people think of Lansing Parks.

SC: When people think of Lansing parks that is our signature park.

LS: Right now there are a lot of elements that make up Myers.  First of all there is the park itself, then you have camping, you have all the events that go in the pavilions, up and coming we think this summer a bandstand, and there have certainly been band performances for a number of years.  There is the marina.

SC: The dry dock area, the beachfront, the lighthouse point, the other point on the north side of the park which is really more for kayak and wind surfing, small sailboats, and has proven to be by way of very knowledgeable people at Sapsucker Woods and the birding community in the late fall and early spring a noted migratory stopping point for a lot of birds that many people in town had no idea that were there.

Consequently several years ago the birding community donated a kiosk out on that point with a really nice laminated historical and current point of interest statements as to what types of birds have been seen and can be seen out there and their habitats.  That's been a really neat situation.


LS: How much of these elements were there when you came in as Park Superintendent?

SC: Well, the beachfront was there obviously, the marina was there.

LS: Was the beachfront being used formally for swimming?

SC: It was.  Actually when I was young as a child I took swimming lessons there.  The schools didn't have a pool at that point so it was where you learned, in the lake.

There was a really big L-shaped dock that went out into the lake and sometimes I miss that dock or having something like that that people just kind of like to go out on, but nevertheless that was where all the swimming lessons were taught at that point.

I think there were only about three or four pavilions at that point. There was camping but, in my opinion, it was way too overcrowded and overpowered the park.

LS: Did people just come and camp?

SC: They paid to camp but it was a tough structure.  It needed some coordination.  It worked for what it was then.  When we started we needed to make it a secure place again, and we needed to get the park cleaned up and made safe for families to come back and enjoy.  I think we've done that.

We bounced around the total quantity of campers and we have scaled back with a decision to improve it with quality over quantity.  So, currently, we only have 19 sites and I don't foresee us ever going above that.  

Those sites are good quality sites now, they have public water, they have a new 30 amp service electric.  Down the road they may have cable television hookups as an option.  The area is cleaned up well.  Our staff in the park now, Wayne Straw and Charlie Nedrow, have worked really hard to clean up and clear up around the camp area and open it up and plant new grass and take down old trees and put up new ones and make it really esthetically pleasing.

LS: Those guys are the ones who do the mowing and stuff?

SC: That is correct.  Those two guys are pretty much are main staff that work Myers Park.

LS: What about the marina?  How much of that was up and operating?

SC: The marina was up and operating when I came.  We have had to do several dredgings since then, just maintenance dredgings in the channel and in the marina itself.

We have had to replace docks.  Currently we are in an ongoing project to bite off a little bit every year over time to improve the docks and to replace the old retaining wall that's rusted, and some of its caved in, and some parts look like they're going to cave in.  It's a long, hard, expensive process so we've just decided to prioritize it and take short chunks of it over time to improve it and fix it.

We have also added pavilions and I think we're up to seven.  Some are coming from service groups such as the Lion's Club and in the past the fire department and even personal.  We have one pavilion purchased as a personal donation -- sort of a monument to a spouse that passed away.


So, it all works.  We have incorporated a reservation system now for both pavilions and camping that works very well and has made it a lot more business like down there and given everybody more of a fair chance to take advantage of the park.  

Also, we have implemented a three year term for the marina to try and obtain through lottery a position in the marina and keep it for three years.  In the old days it was done annually and the renewal always seemed to be in the winter time.  It was such a hassle every year and I was afraid for people's health and well being because we would have folks that came two or three days before the draw.  It was sort of a first come first serve and it wasn't really a draw.  They would come for days in advance and sit in their cars in sub-zero weather camping out trying to get in line and it was crazy.

LS: So now it's a lottery and if you win you get a slip?

SC: Right, you get a slip and a right of refusal right for a three year term.  And that rolls over.  Things change in people's lives and they found out that over the three year term the first year was okay, then things pop up and then we go to a waiting list.  That works well.

LS: If you come up on the waiting list do you get the remainder of the term or a new term?

SC: You get the remainder of the term.  So you may come out for one year and it just keeps things less complicated.

LS: The playground, was that there?  Because that seems to be a very popular place.

SC: Yes, part of the playground was there.  It's changed a lot in both the things we wanted to add one, and two come up to code in what's accepted now for safety and handicap accessibility which are all great things, but I have to tell you some of the old things that we had to get rid of were 45 of 50 years old were classic pieces and it was a shame to see them go.

There was a bank of swings that were in the shape of horses.  That was a really neat thing.  There was a spinning merry-go-round type of thing that was a real neat piece.  It just seems like the things that the kids really liked the most were probably the things in retrospect maybe some of the most dangerous things that obviously had to go.

You just hate to see the old classic things go.  We fight them tooth and nail to keep them as long as we can before we are forced to make a move.  

Since then we have upgraded the playground and added some things.  We are continually looking to do things like that.  I think a couple years ago we added the space ropes, which is a new rope climbing feature which looks like a spider web.  That's been really popular.

So there is always something new and we are always looking at it.  Now we are looking at some structures that are pre-manufactured boulders.  They are climbing features so we are looking at things like that to keep adding on and improving the playground.

LS: Two of the parks are sports parks.  There is the big ball field park by the town hall and then there is the smaller fields kind of near the Highway Department.  How have they changed?

SC: Our main athletic or rec complex is next to the town hall.  We are really, really proud of what that has turned into.  We have expanded over the years, expanded the size of it -- probably doubled it.

LS: There were about a dozen fields?

SC: Originally there were six fields on the top plateau which was on the four corners and then two on either side which made the fix fields four large fields and two smaller fields in the middle.  That was it.  That was all there was.

From there we got started after several years and put in the restrooms and storage room building up there.  There had never been anything like that.  We developed the lower field closest to the parking lot which is now called Christopher Field and is fenced in.

Then we also, before the new town hall was built, beyond the back parking lot of the old town hall we found we needed to take advantage of the space we already owned.  With help from the Highway Department and some local volunteers who could bring in equipment we turned that back field area into another playing field part of the complex.

Since then it has taken off with some fencing projects.  The pavilion was put in, the playground was put in, the full-court basketball court was put in, we added two full batting cages up there now.  We got a semi-walking trail that goes around the park which you see a lot of parents using while their kids are involved in an activity.


LS: Is that the paved part?

SC: A little part of the paved and then they go off the pavement and walk the perimeter of the park.

We have done extensive planting as part of the new town hall project but basically took off on what I previously talked about more plantings and a lot of that is really starting to grow mature.  Before in the old days it was a flat piece of grass that we played on and it has really turned out to be a nice looking park.

It is seen now more as a park than as a ball field area.

LS: Christopher Field -- is that a memorial for Matt Christopher?

SC: No, that was Fred Christopher who was a long time business owner in town and part of the very athletic Christopher family.  Fred was a participant in sports when he was here and a big advocate of anything to do with athletics, as is pretty much his whole family.

LS: I see the music in the park program as a park program rather than a rec program.  I guess you could see it as either or both.

SC: You could see it as either or both because, again, you have to try and get away from the notion that rec things are just a sport activity.  For a lot of folks going down to the park and getting in their lawn chair and listening to music -- that's as much recreation as it is park.  I guess it's a recreation program that occurs in the park.

LS: Do you see that kind of divide?  I always thought of that as a park activity.  Do you have other park activities like that?

SC: Well, some of the other programs that we run take place in the park so that might be seen as a blended type of program.  

LS: But it's really part of the whole?

SC: Yes, it's really part of the whole package and I think it really does become neat when you can run a rec program as you and I would think of and have it take place in our park.  The two come together and it really makes it worthwhile.

I guess one example of that is we have been very fortunate over the last couple years.  We have had several of our local Eagle Scouts do a couple of projects down there that have been great additions to Myers Park in particular.

One was the new life guard chair that was built.  The most recent one was a kayak and canoe storage rack that has been built and we allow kayakers to store their boats in their for free depending upon open slots over in the A parking lot that is near the A pavilion and near the mouth of Salmon Creek.

LS: I noticed that as soon as it went up it filled up.


SC: Yes, it went up and it filled up.  Never really had any complaints that people who wanted to use it couldn't, although I'm assuming people did.  That's another nice passive program where people can come down and store their kayak or canoe and put in right there at the mouth of the creek and enjoy some really great paddling around our park and the Salt Point project.

It's just a really neat spot so that's another thing that shows it could be seen as a rec type of thing with the paddling.  We have a sailing program that is a rec program that takes place right in the same area which is also very popular.  Again, it's that blending where the two come together.  It's really a neat thing to see.

LS: The last aspect of this that I want to talk about is that this is a town department.  I have always seen the department as doing more with less, but how supportive is the Town?  When you say I need something in order for this to happen does that happen?  What is that dynamic?

SC: Ever since I was involved with it, whether it was Bud Howell or whether it was Jeannie Kirby, Steve Farkas and all of their specific board members that went with each of those supervisors, they have been extremely helpful and supportive.  I think they need some credit for having the foresight to see that this does play a positive part in our community and supporting it helps to make it a nicer place to live for parents, adults, and kids.

I can't say enough how wise that foresight was because I think it does improve the quality of where we live.  We are very fortunate in that.

LS: I think when people talk about why they move here a lot of times you hear the school system, the rec department, the rural quality of life.  This is one of the top reasons, at least anecdotally, that I hear people say.

SC: Yeah, and it all comes back to people have a choice to make where they live, what they want it to be, and they also have a choice to control the quality of where they live and they are doing a darn good job of it.

They have been supportive and helpful to allow us to do what we do and to help them do what we would like them to do to make life here better for their kids and for them and the whole community.

LS: So it's truly a community resource not just a program being offered?

SC: Absolutely a community resource.  In a small town like this a handful of people just can't do it on their own.  When people buy into something, I don't care what it is, whey they buy into something and they become passionate about it they really go the extra mile and get things done with quality and follow through and that's when things happen and that's when they happen in a way that is the best that can happen.


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