Four members of the Parks and Recreation Advisory Committee walked Carrs Cove Friday to determine if the land could be designated as a Haines Borough park.
The borough set aside the nearly four-acre parcel in 1997 when it sold parcels in its Carrs Cove subdivision, adjacent and south of the recreation land. The area is zoned for recreation, is undeveloped and has largely been used as a party spot for bonfires and picnics.
At Tuesday’s borough assembly meeting, member Ron Jackson called the area a “known party place with a lot of litter and party things that probably should be dealt with at some time.”
The committee and the borough were asked in the Comprehensive Plan, approved in September 2012, to “improve the borough’s two parcels (Carrs Cove and One Mile Creek) to add a parking area, better beach access, and a more formalized but natural walking path.”
Committee member Burl Sheldon called Carrs Cove a “needy area,” but he said it wouldn’t take much money to build and maintain.
Sheldon, Jackson, and committee members Patricia Peters and George Figdor suggested adding benches, tables and possibly a gazebo, making pathways accessible to people with disabilities and extending the driveway near the cove into a loop to allow for more parking.
Drivable access to the beach could also make the cove a new commercial access point for kayaks or canoes.
Sheldon said he didn’t know where funding for these ideas would come from yet; the meeting was just a preliminary walk-through to brainstorm how the area could be better utilized.
Peters said she remembered when families would come out to the beaches for bonfires and kids would climb trees and explore with little fear of getting lost on the property.
Peters said she plans to post on community Facebook pages to invite people to share memories of their experiences at Carrs Cove and to discuss their vision for future use.