Archive: Around Town

When you drive into Myers Park in season you are stopped while attendants can ask whether you are a Lansing resident.  If you say yes they let you through.  If no, you pay to get in.  This summer that will change.  Lansing residents will receive stickers for their cars that will automatically provide free entrance to the park.  Non-residents will pay three dollars admission.

"The park has been undervalued when you look at the improvements we've made there," says Park Superintendent Steve Colt.  "We're a great deal, but we were too much of a great deal."

While the price of admission for non-residents has gone up in recent years, Colt says that the $3 admission fee for non-residents is the best deal going, especially in light of a $7 fee for admission to state parks.  The stickers will have control numbers on them that will match up to the Parks Department's records of license plate numbers.  Park attendants will conduct spot checks to make sure the numbers match.  That will provide the Town a way of insuring that only residents are using the stickers.  Lansing residents will have to provide their name, address, and license plate number to receive stickers.  There is no fee for the sticker, and residents can get stickers for each car that they own as long as the right sticker control number matches up with the right license plate number.

Lansing had a sticker system well over ten years ago, and the Parks Department also tried mirror tags.  But abuses were hard to track without too much trouble for park employees and visitors alike.  Colt says the new system is better thought out and should help raise money for maintenance to wear and tear caused by out of town visitors, while letting in taxpayers with less hassle.

Residents of the Village and Town of Lansing are eligible to pick up their stickers at the Parks and Recreation Office year 'round starting in January.  If a resident comes to the gate without a sticker he or she may request one. 

"If you can prove that you're a Lansing resident we're going to hand you a clipboard.  You'll pull over to the right and fill it out and we'll give you the sticker right there on the spot and add your information to our files afterward."


Another change is that admission will now be charged Thursday through Sunday, and most holidays.  Until now entry fees were only charged on the weekends and holidays.  The fee is waved on the 4th of July in respect for the Lansing Lions Club's annual barbecue.  The Lions donated the bandstand and many of the pavilions in the park.

Colt says the stickers have been ordered, and he hopes to have them delivered in time to give out the majority of them as residents come to the town hall to pay their taxes in January.

"It will be nice for people dropping off their taxes to get something for free," he says.  "Our hope is that throughout the tax period we can get enough word of mouth and lots of people signed up so it's not one more huge task in the spring."

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