Whiting is planning a multimillion-dollar overhaul to part of Whiting Lakefront Park, which is considered to be one of Northwest Indiana’s premier lakefront parks on Lake Michigan.
The city is looking to replace the boulders protecting the shoreline, restore the trail and hopefully build a fishing area along the shoreline, Mayor of Whiting Steve Spebar said.
“Next year, we’re going to improve the waterfront by the former Gun Club,” he said. “Most of the shoreline will be secured and rebuilt with more stones, larger buffer stones. We’re going to redo the walking path.”
The South Shore Convention and Visitors Authority calls the Whiting Lakefront Park “a beautiful destination point for all to enjoy, located along the shoreline of Lake Michigan,” with “breathtaking views of the Chicago skyline.”
The 26-acre park on Lake Michigan borders Whihala Beach and features a gazebo, formal garden, boardwalk, binoculars for taking in the view, a miniature stone lighthouse and a 300-foot-long pier.
Whiting Lakefront Park was last renovated over a decade ago, in 2014. Upgrades included trails, more parking and an upgraded boat harbor.
The city tore down the former Gun Club the following year, in 2015. The federal government built it in the 1930s as a gun range and trap shooting club. The city had hopes to turn it into a lakefront restaurant, but it had fallen into disrepair after going unused for decades and was deemed to be at risk of flooding.
The most recent Whiting Lakefront Park overhaul was part of $48 million in infrastructure improvements that included the construction of Oil City Stadium and Little League fields.
Shortly after the park was dedicated, a massive storm with 70 mph wind gusts and 20-foot-tall waves caused widespread damage, washing away shoreline armor stones that weighed as much as 20,000 pounds.
Whiting discovered some of the stones were not as large as they were supposed to be, sued the contractors and used the settlement to restore part of the shoreline.
Now the city will replace the remaining smaller stones with larger stones that will better shield the park from erosion. The goal is to protect the park at a time when high water levels in Lake Michigan have eroded many of the beaches in Northwest Indiana, Spebar said.
“The stones should be of a certain size,” he said. “The ferocity of the lake can wash out stones of any size and cause damage. Nothing can prevent a huge storm. But this is a valued green space area. We want to keep it a functional park.”
Whiting will also restore a walking trail that cuts through a restored prairie along the shoreline, offering views of the Chicago skyline, the BP Whiting Refinery, the Indiana Harbor Works steel mill in neighboring East Chicago and the endless expanse of the 300-mile-long Lake Michigan.
No cost estimate is yet available, but the project will cost millions of dollars, Spebar said. It will be funded via a tax-increment financing district that siphons property taxes from increases in assessed valuation to pay for infrastructure that would boost development and property values.
The hope is that enough money will be left over for Whiting to build a fishing area where people can fish from shore for salmon, trout, perch or other fish, Spebar said. It likely would be a concrete area with steps descending toward the lake.
“It won’t be anything too fancy,” he said. “It will be some type of platform. We’ve doubtless had many requests for more fishing spots.”
The project should help secure the lakefront park for years to come.
“We want to make sure our shoreline is in the best condition we can,” Spebar said. “It’s our jewel. Whiting Lakefront Park is our jewel. We want to leave it in the best shape for future generations.”
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