The shelterhouse at the Bean Blossom Overlook on State Road 135 North has been torn down, and now, the Brown County Commissioners own the property.
On Nov. 4, the commissioners approved purchasing the 1-acre area where the shelterhouse once stood from the Indiana Department of Transportation for $1,200, the appraised value.
The county will not pay until Gov. Eric Holcomb signs the quit claim deed, which could be a few more months from now, commissioner Diana Biddle said.
The shelterhouse was torn down last week because of significant structural damage.
Biddle said she had been talking with local companies, including Pool Sawmill, to get pricing on replacing the shelterhouse. The hope is that companies will donate time or materials to rebuild it.
She also suggested creating a Friends of the Overlook Committee made up of community members. It is also possible the rebuild could be an Eagle Scout project.
Eagle Scouts had worked to put picnic tables in the shelterhouse. They are now being stored at Deer Run Park, Biddle said.
“The plan is to reconstruct as close as we can to the original. I think the only thing, personally, I would want to change is to put a brown or green metal shed roof on it instead of the shingles. They would last a lot longer,” she said.
The resolution authorizing the purchase also gave Biddle the permission to “execute and deliver the documents, deeds and agreements on behalf of county in connection with the transaction, then I can sign for the deeds and closing statements,” she said.
The Brown County Parks and Recreation Department owns more than 100 acres around the shelterhouse. The 1-acre shelterhouse property would belong to the commissioners and would be covered by their insurance, Biddle said.
“Honestly, we thought we owned it years ago and we might have insurance on it already,” she said.
A person attending the virtual meeting on Zoom asked if the commissioners were required to do a request for proposal for the rebuild project, but Biddle said that is not required if a project will cost less than $150,000.
Biddle estimated the project will cost $10,000 or less if materials and time are donated.
She added that she was going to give INDOT a bill for the trash clean-up after they demolished the shelter house, so it’s possible the county could call it even with INDOT and not pay the $1,200 purchase price for the land.
