Clark Township Recreation Committee members Darryl Hill (left) and Gene Collins stand on the infield of one of the two baseball fields on Blindline Road nearing completion. Backstops, infield fencing, and dugout roofs are scheduled to be put in this month. The first phase of the Clark Township Recreation Park project is nearing completion, but much work and funding still needs to be done before the entire park is complete, Clark Township Recreation Committee officials say. They've asked the township board to take on the project and the board has agreed, but has not yet made any decisions as to what it will do to fund it.

Future plans for the park include adding a tennis court, two volleyball courts, basketball area with six nets, playground, walking path, and covered ice pavilion. The committee estimates the total project could cost up to $1 million.

Two baseball fields have been pieced together behind the Clark Township Hall on Blindline Road over the last three years. Those fields will be mostly completed this month when backstops, fencing between the dugouts, and roofs for the dugouts are installed, leaving only the outfield fencing on both fields. Robinson Fence Company of Pickford will install the backstops and fencing, which cost about $5,000, and McMaken Carpentry of Cedarville has donated materials to complete the dugout roofs.

Although the two fields will not be entirely complete by next spring, committee member Darryl Hill said they will be finished enough for people to play ball. Park-goers will also be able to use the 1,200-square-foot pavilion built in the park in 2007.

"We've got most of the infrastructure done. The ball fields were kind of the centerpiece, because they're the biggest and really took the most work," he said. "Our committee has done a lot of the development, planning, work, and fundraising. The biggest thing is getting the funds. As they come available, we do what we can with them."

So far, the park, which will be known as The Snows Heritage Park, has been funded in segments through grants. The Mackinac County Board of Commissioners contributed $10,000, another $10,000 was given by the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians over two years, the Les Cheneaux Lions Club has contributed, residents and businesses have chipped in, and a challenge grant was contributed through the Les Cheneaux Community Foundation from an anonymous local donor.

The challenge grant has brought in $22,000, $12,000 raised by the community and $10,000 matched by the donor. To date, more than $42,000 has been raised for the park.

Two reasons why it has taken three years to build the baseball fields are inconsistent funding and too many people involved in their construction, said committee member Gene Collins. He said because too many people are involved, there is sometimes more talk than action.

"The problem with that has been, unless you have a single contractor, you just have a group of people" trying to do the same work, he said. "It's not very easy to agree on what should be done first and how it's to be done."

The size and cost of the remainder of the park project, Mr. Collins said, is leaving the future of funding for the park up in the air. He said the recreation committee has reached a critical point and will need the help of the township for the park to go any further.

He approached the Clark Township Board of Trustees at its Thursday, October 15, meeting to seek its involvement in funding the park project. The board unanimously agreed to take on the project. It will discuss several fundraising options as well as long-term maintenance plans for the park at an upcoming board of trustees meeting.

"The money was there to start it, but we haven't got enough to finish it," Mr. Collins said. "I didn't want to lose the momentum and [public] interest we have in getting this done. We should keep on going, but we don't think the committee could take on the whole project. It's just too big."

Mr. Collins said the next piece of the park he'd like to see built is the covered ice pavilion.

Other members of the recreation committee are Steve Autore, Dan Izzard, Mike Lofdahl, and Linda Sherlund.