As Grand Traverse County commissioners struggle with a projected $1.7 million budget deficit in 2015, some Parks & Recreation Commission members are exploring the possibility of using one county park as a revenue-generating event space.

Commissioners discovered earlier this year that a long-presumed prohibition on alcohol in the deed restrictions for Twin Lakes Park on Long Lake Road doesn't actually exist in the contract language.

“We found out that's not in the deed and not in accordance with the families' wishes,” County Administrator Dave Benda told Parks & Recreation commissioners at their September meeting. “They have no prohibition at all in their minds.”

The discovery opened the door to Twin Lakes – already host to weddings and community events at the park's 3,000 square-foot Gilbert Lodge, 80-person boarding dormitory and on-site pavilion – to be marketed and utilized for year-round events.

Commissioners held off hiring a replacement for former Twin Lakes caretakers Jim and Barb Mattson until the new year to allow the Parks & Recreation Business Development Team time to study the best qualifications for a new leader at the park.

“You could hire an event planner...and pay them a flat fee to market it and fill it and take a percentage of the profits,” Benda told commissioners. “You could probably make quite a bit of money on that lodge and having that park available for (events) on the weekends.”

Commissioner Christine Maxbauer agreed with Benda's “idea of hiring someone to market (the park) for events,” adding that “more use of (Twin Lakes) could help alleviate some of the problems we've had in the past there.”

In the wake of the deed discovery, Parks & Recreation enacted a Twin Lakes alcohol policy this year to allow properly permitted events – which must receive county approval – to have alcohol on-site. Parks & Recreation Chair Alisa Kroupa, who also chairs the Business Development Team, notes several events have already done so.

“This doesn't mean the whole park is open to alcohol,” Kroupa clarifies. “You can't bring a beer down to the beach. Events have to get special permission from the parks director...and have the right permits to have alcohol.”

Last week, Kroupa and other Business Development Team members toured and assessed Twin Lakes facilities as part of their task to create a proposed business plan for the park, which they will present to commissioners later this year. The same committee studied ways last year to generate revenue at Power Island in West Grand Traverse Bay, which led to the county offering ferry service to the island for the first time this summer.

“We're not just making plans – we're making things happen,” says Kroupa. “Our goal is to create revenue from our parks to help offset some of our operating costs.”

Kroupa is uncertain how much revenue Twin Lakes could generate, but she notes that it's a “beautiful park” and that “there's a limited amount of event space available in Traverse City.” Her committee will study permit and rental rates, potential staffing costs and anticipated revenue increases due to more robust marketing efforts as part of their business plan discussions this fall.

“We're moving forward with creative ideas to raise revenue in our parks,” says Kroupa of the committee's efforts. “If every department in the county put forth an effort to create revenue, it'd help our overall county budget. The parks department is doing its part.”