SPOKANE COUNTY, Wash – A major renovation project is underway at the Bear Lake Regional Park, which is just north of Chattaroy, WA.
Spokane County Parks, Recreation, and Golf broke ground Thursday on the $3 million project.
Crews will be adding new fishing piers, picnic shelters, restrooms, as well as beaches.
The renovations come two years after a disabled veteran fell into the lake with his electric wheel chair.
“Just holding my breath. I didn’t know what to do. I couldn’t get out of my wheelchair. I was basically shocked,” Fred Margiotta, a Navy veteran, recalling the frightening incident.
Margiotta was fishing on Bear Lake on a retaining wall when it gave away. He and his wheelchair both fell into the lake.
“I was just holding my breath and luckily he (a friend) jumped into the water and pulled me out,” Margiotta said.
Thankfully, he was okay.
But this incident, prompted the county to make some necessary improvements to the area.
“By all means, utilized that to help expedite the timing and the project,” Doug Chase, director of the Spokane County Parks, Recreation, and Golf, said.
“The only thing more exciting than a brand new facility is to be able to turn an existing facility new,” Chase said.
Even more exciting for Brent King, the executive director for the Northwest Paralyzed Veterans of America.
“It’s a very good project. It’ll be nice to have accessible docks and a kayak launch. We’ve made do with what was here,” King said.
They take disabled veterans out fishing and kayaking on Bear Lake.
“There’s a lot that this hidden gem has to offer,” Chase said.
A $1.4 million federal grant was secured for the project. $5,000 was also donated from the Derek Kiehn ‘Access to Adventure’ Memorial Fund.
The area will be closed until crews finish up renovations, which Chase says, should wrap up this fall.
