Though Funds Are Not Currently Available, Big Bear Valley Recreation and Park District and Big Bear City Community Services District Are Committed to Paradise Park’s Completion

A hold on state Proposition 12 and 40 funds may affect the timeline for progress on Paradise Park, though the park sub-committees of the Big Bear Valley Recreation and Park District and the Big Bear City Community Services District still met on Tuesday, March 17. Moving forward, the park sub-committees agreed on three points: the committees will stay intact, and inform their respective boards on the status of the proposed park; it is their number one priority, they tell KBHR, to ensure that this joint project on CSD property with Rec and Park funds be completed. Until secure funding is in place, however, there will be no additional expenditures on the project—though the Big Bear Valley Recreation and Park District has already spent roughly $140,000 on the proposed park. The third point agreed upon by the park sub-committees is that their general managers, Reese Troublefield for Rec and Park and Mike Mayer for CSD, will meet to work on an amended Memorandum of Understanding, given timeframe clauses and other property-related issues in the original document (which has not yet been approved by the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors, which oversees both districts). In the subsequent meeting of the Advisory Commission of the Big Bear Valley Recreation and Park District on Tuesday evening, the County’s Director of Special Districts Jeff Rigney was in attendance. In his role with San Bernardino County, Rigney oversees recreation and park districts, so was able to provide some insight on the former Big Bear City Park, which is no longer for sale and, therefore, funds from its sale will not be available for Paradise Park development. As Rigney explained, “Right now, the decision is not to sell it. It’s really nothing more than the current supervisor [Neil Derry] has different ideas than the former supervisor [Dennis Hansberger], but they’re behind Paradise Park.” Rigney said that Supervisor Derry is considering leaving the property as open space, perhaps in a cleaned-up version, but he reiterated that no decisions have yet been made. “As far as revenue and financing,” he said of Paradise Park, “we’ve been asked to look at that, and get back to the supervisor. We have to come up with other options, and we will do that.” For his part, local parks District Manager Troublefield assured, “It’s going to take some work but I, and our staff, are committed to this project. There are lots of ways to raise money. The Valley is committed to Paradise Park, and it has been unifying already.”