Somerset Lake shoreline site to be cleared for nature park
Feb. 29—SOMERSET, Pa. — Somerset County leaders have big plans for the Somerset Lake Nature Park in 2024 — but first they need to make room for it.
The Somerset County commissioners voted 3-0 Tuesday to allow Steele Construction Inc. to clear a wooded area along Somerset Lake's western shoreline.
Restrooms, a pavilion, and a boat rental and concessions building are planned to be built in 2024, and county Recycling Coordinator Cathie Beal said planners want to give potential bidders a better view of the land's topography.
Plans show that the pavilion will be built on one section of the land that is set to be cleared.
A boat storage site and the rental building itself will sit nearby, on either side of the lake's boat ramp.
The plan "is to leave some of the good native species," Beal said, noting that maple trees and a few other Somerset County species will be protected.
Commissioners Brian Fochtman, Irv Kimmel Jr. and Pamela Tokar-Ickes said the project will be a difference-maker for the community.
It's part of a years-in-the-making effort to increase activity at the newly rebuilt man-made Somerset Lake.
Work is also planned to continue developing a trail around the lake this summer.
Beal said that funds from the Community Foundation for the Alleghenies' Somerset County Endowment will cover the $2,500 site work cost this spring.
Meanwhile, the commissioners said, the search for a new Somerset County parks and trails director is moving forward.
Tokar-Ickes said several people are interested, and interviews will be scheduled soon to narrow down the field.
The county's previous parks and trails director, Lindsay Baer, left the job after accepting a role with the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources earlier this year.
The parks and trail directors maintains and oversees Somerset County's trails — including its portion of the Great Allegheny Passage — and the Somerset Lake Nature Park project.
