“We have the boat launch, the beach, the picnic facility,” said Karen Blaska, Park Planner with Anoka County Parks. “The park gets loved…to death.”
In 2021, the county decided to transform Coon Lake Park into Coon Lake Regional Park. Part of that process is a master planning phase the county is in right now to make sure it is meeting all of the needs of those who want to use the amenities at the lake.
“We have been focusing on ensuring that all of our parks are welcoming and more inclusive,” said Blaska. Part of that is a survey the county published recently that it hopes as many parkgoers will take a few minutes to fill out.
“We’ve been making sure we touch base with various community planning groups,” she said.
Blaska also wants to assure the community that, despite its popularity, the county will not add more parking spaces near the boat launches. She said the DNR standard is one parking space per 25 acres of water, and between the county and DNR launches at Coon Lake, there’s already that many parking spots.
She said this kind of master planning and community input has already shown results at at least two other county parks with the installation of dog parks.
“We hear about (dog parks),” she said.
The survey will remain in the field for about another month, she said. The parks department will eventually bring draft master plans for Coon Lake Regional Park before county commissioners to move forward.
