A $4.6 million overhaul of Bolton Landing’s Veterans Memorial Park – the single most extensive renovation of the lakefront park since its June, 1971 dedication – was all but complete by Labor Day.
The popular public beach, docks and kayak launch have been accessible to visitors and residents almost every day since the beginning of summer, but for much of the public, the first opportunity to view the revitalized park will be September 19-22, when the travelling Vietnam Veterans’ memorial known as “The Moving Wall” returns to Bolton Landing for the first time since 2017.
“These additions and improvements bring Veterans Park up to the level of Rogers Park,” Bolton Supervisor Ron Conover said during an August 27 tour. “Bolton Landing is among the busiest summer destinations on Lake George, and we now have the infrastructure to support the traffic.”
A new 2,300 sq ft building meant for year-round recreation, youth and senior programs, however, is the centerpiece of the redesigned and reconfigured park.
The new building, which was completed in late August, replaces a 1980s building used for summer arts and crafts programs, as well as a series of out-buildings.
“Our architect, Bolton native Tenee Rehm Casaccio and her firm, JMZ Architects, knocked this design out of the park,” said Conover. “It is a functional, modern building.”
Visually, the multi-purpose Recreation building echoes the Visitors Center that she designed in for Rogers Park, said Casaccio, a 1983 graduate of Bolton Central School.
“Rogers and Vets Park are the hamlet’s bookends. It’s fitting that they should speak to the community in the same architectural language. So you will see elements that we introduced in Rogers Park repeated or mimicked in Vets Park,” said Casaccio.
Differences in the size and scale of the two buildings reflect the particular location and function of each, which, by necessity or design, are consistent with the differences between the two parks – in their histories, topographies and customary uses.
“Rogers is a park to be passively enjoyed, while Veteran’s Park is more family oriented, meant for more active uses, for play and for cook-outs and gatherings,” said Casaccio.
But both parks are now visually and functionally integrated campuses, products of community-wide planning sessions and the cooperative relationships of architects, the planners at LA Group and the municipal administration, said Cassacio.
Veterans Park’s new building will house the offices of the Bolton Recreation Department as well as space for after-school and summer programs and activities, all of which are currently located in the basement of the town hall.
“It was certainly way past time to get the kids and the program out of the town hall’s basement,” said Conover. “And as a multi-use building with a flexible, acoustically-superior event space, the new facility will allow our recreation program to consider other kinds of programming, programs that will benefit other segments of the community and, in fact, the entire community.”
“I’m excited by what we will be able do here,” said Michelle Huck, the head of the Recreation Department. “We now have maternity programs and yoga, cardio, fitness and watercolor painting classes at the Conservation Club, and while we may not be able do all of those things in this new building, we can move the majority of them there. We won’t be displaced when someone wants to use the Conservation Club.”
Adjacent to the building is a spacious pavilion suitable for outdoor events and gatherings overlooking the playground and beach. Beyond is a shaded picnic area.
According to the LA Group’s Tim Larsen, improved pedestrian connections to Lake Shore Drive and Lake George “will draw you from the lake and beach through the park and into the hamlet.”
The park will also include a refurbished Veterans Memorial, composed of vertical panels replicating portions of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington DC.
“We’re looking forward to having it completed,” said Paul Terpening of American Legion Post 961.
The reconstruction of the park began late last fall and included the installation of new and upgraded utility lines and stormwater controls.
“Much of what makes this an environmentally sustainable park is below ground and will never be seen,” said Conover.
Thus far, the Town of Bolton has received $2.7 million in grants for the project, most recently, in December, 2022, when it was awarded a $1.7-million Local Waterfront Revitalization Grant.
According to Bolton Supervisor Conover, that grant will cover 75% of the costs of the construction of the new year-round building, the centerpiece of the 2019 Master Plan for the park.
Conover credited the Bolton’s Citizens’ Committee and its consultants, the LA Group and JMZ Architects, for developing a design that incorporated so many community needs, and the town’s Planning and Zoning office for drafting the successful 2022 Local Waterfront Revitalization Grant application.
“In the past, we would’ve retained consultants to draft and submit a grant application of this size to New York State. With a professional Planning office, we have that capacity in-house,” said Conover.
Conover said the renovations of Rogers Park also cost approximately $5 million.
“You start with an idea, and from there, you develop a plan that enables you to assess the costs and identify potential sources of funding. All this requires time, especially if you’re to engage the interest and support of New York State, which we have successfully done,” said Conover, adding that roughly $10 million in state grants have been awarded to Bolton since he took office in 2010.
Conover said the two projects restoring the town’s park’s are part of this generation’s “signature” across the Town of Bolton.
“If you’re going to contribute to the well-being of your community, you want to do something of lasting value. We take a lot of pride in our community, and we want to do things that the town will take pride in for generations to come,” said Conover. “As a native of Bolton, I am so proud to have been allowed to have an impact upon these parks, and to introduce an architectural language for Bolton’s public buildings. My hope is that it will be adapted for other buildings in the future and continue to be used as the town evolves,” said Casaccio.
