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SOUTH BEND, Ind. (AP) — Indiana Gov. Mike Pence has proposed spending $25 million to build an inn at Potato Creek State Park in North Liberty to mark the state's bicentennial, which will be in 2016.
The Bicentennial Inn, as it would be called, would be the first lodge that has been built at an Indiana state park since 1939, the South Bend Tribune reports (http://bit.ly/1wc6JUj).
But it marks just the latest of proposals to raise an inn at Potato Creek — preceded by years of mulling, then proposals in 2001 and 2005, when an inn for Indiana Dunes State Park was also considered.
At first news of it, state Sen. Jim Arnold, D-LaPorte, whose district includes the park, said, "I'm elated, I'm glad we're putting money into the state parks and encouraging people to come and stay."
But, initially, he also questioned how the state could come up with $25 million when the state has made cuts to key areas like education.
Then he discovered that funding for the inn would come from the leasing of "the state's underutilized cell tower infrastructure," according to a letter in which Pence outlines his budget.
Proceeds from that lease could exceed $50 million, Pence writes.
Phil Bloom, communications director for the Indiana Department of Natural Resources, said the funding would come from the state's lease of unused capacity from some of its 150 cell towers that support public safety and emergency communications. Currently, there are three such leases to third parties, Bloom said.
Earmarked for the 2016 fiscal year, this comes in the proposed budget that state legislators will debate in the session that just started.
The possible location, size, number of rooms and other details for the inn aren't available yet, Bloom said.
"We are excited about the possibility since our current system does not have a facility in that area of the state," said Dan Bortner, director of the NDR's Division of State Parks. "We look forward to Hoosiers from northwest Indiana having the opportunity to enjoy the same level of service as our other lodge facilities across the state."
The last lodge was built in 1939 at Spring Mill State Park in Mitchell, Indiana, south of Bloomington.
Only six other state parks have inns: Brown County, McCormick's Creek, Clifty Falls, Fort Harrison, Pokagon and Turkey Run.
The closest state-park inn is at Pokagon — in Indiana's northeast corner — where the Potawatomi Inn was finished about two years after construction of the park itself began in 1926.
The other bicentennial projects that Pence has proposed are:
— $25 million to build a new state archives building for historic state documents and records and to enhance public access to them.
— $1.6 million to support the "bicentennial torch relay initiative."
— $2 million for the development of a Bicentennial Plaza.
— $2.5 million to create an education center at the Indiana State Library.
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Information from: South Bend Tribune, http://www.southbendtribune.com
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