CHARLESTON, W.Va. - Coonskin Park patrons and members of the Kanawha County Parks and Recreation Commission broke into a heated argument Wednesday morning over trails and a new golf center at the park.

About 15 park users attended Wednesday's meeting to voice discontent over trails bulldozed to make way for the planned 16-acre facility, featuring a driving range. They said they also are not willing to concede the green spaces their tax dollars support.

Typically, members of the public are allowed only two minutes to speak at the meetings, said Anna Dailey, vice president of the commission.

However, several park patrons spoke at length, saying they had not been adequately notified of plans to change the areas and that the board was treating their concerns insincerely.

Members of the public and commissioners raised their voices and frequently interrupted each other, largely keeping the discussion from progressing. Dailey disputed statements by trail patrons that the board did not care about trail building and implications that the board had not adequately notified the public.

"I don't want to just create procedures that end up being violated," Dailey said.

Trail patron Nancy Ward told the board she did not know about the commission's plans to bulldoze the trails until it was too late. Because Kanawha County has so few green spaces, she said, the groups that oversee them should make sure the public has a say in what happens to them.

"A driving range is not an equal green space with trails and forested areas," Ward said. "We question whether it's the job of the park system maintained by taxpayers to produce revenue."

The commission printed a notice in the newspaper and posted its agenda in the park's clubhouse before the project began, as required by law. Trail users said they wanted to see signs posted at the sites of proposed construction areas. Ward said by the time she realized she should attend one of the open meetings, the damage already had been done.

Commissioner Patrick Donahoe agreed with the park patrons that the board could do more to inform the public.

"Maybe we should have an alternative method of notification. Hikers don't come in the clubhouse," he said. "We can't replant those trees, but we can take a look at passing a resolution. I don't think that's too much to ask."

Members of the board asked for debate to end so they could continue with the agenda and maintain order, after two statements from attendants and several outbursts from others seated in the meeting.

Ben Lowman, an aquatic biologist for the state Department of Environmental Protection, attempted to speak to the commission after they moved on with the agenda. They asked him to be silent after he said he was not representing the DEP with his statements.

About 15 park users attended Wednesday's meeting to voice discontent over trails bulldozed to make way for the planned 16-acre facility, featuring a driving range. They said they also are not willing to concede the green spaces their tax dollars support.

Typically, members of the public are allowed only two minutes to speak at the meetings, said Anna Dailey, vice president of the commission.

However, several park patrons spoke at length, saying they had not been adequately notified of plans to change the areas and that the board was treating their concerns insincerely.

Members of the public and commissioners raised their voices and frequently interrupted each other, largely keeping the discussion from progressing. Dailey disputed statements by trail patrons that the board did not care about trail building and implications that the board had not adequately notified the public.

"I don't want to just create procedures that end up being violated," Dailey said.

Trail patron Nancy Ward told the board she did not know about the commission's plans to bulldoze the trails until it was too late. Because Kanawha County has so few green spaces, she said, the groups that oversee them should make sure the public has a say in what happens to them.

"A driving range is not an equal green space with trails and forested areas," Ward said. "We question whether it's the job of the park system maintained by taxpayers to produce revenue."

The commission printed a notice in the newspaper and posted its agenda in the park's clubhouse before the project began, as required by law. Trail users said they wanted to see signs posted at the sites of proposed construction areas. Ward said by the time she realized she should attend one of the open meetings, the damage already had been done.

Commissioner Patrick Donahoe agreed with the park patrons that the board could do more to inform the public.

"Maybe we should have an alternative method of notification. Hikers don't come in the clubhouse," he said. "We can't replant those trees, but we can take a look at passing a resolution. I don't think that's too much to ask."

Members of the board asked for debate to end so they could continue with the agenda and maintain order, after two statements from attendants and several outbursts from others seated in the meeting.

Ben Lowman, an aquatic biologist for the state Department of Environmental Protection, attempted to speak to the commission after they moved on with the agenda. They asked him to be silent after he said he was not representing the DEP with his statements.

"Your arrogance will cost you," Lowman told the board as he left the meeting. Dailey asked if he was "threatening" the commissioners.

Park police chief Randy West also took some members of the public out of the meeting after one man called the officer a "jerk" for telling him to stop speaking during the meeting.

The golf center has been discussed for about three years and the first phase of construction already is completed, said Jeff Hutchinson, director of the commission. Construction should finish in early fall, and the facility should open next spring.

The center will be near the Schoenbaum Soccer Stadium and will facilitate The First Tee program, which promotes character education and values through golf education for young people, he said.

"We do have a vision here. It includes many types of recreation, not just one type of recreation," Hutchinson said.

Coonskin Park is an artificial construction intended to be a community recreation area and not a preserved forest area, like Kanawha State Forest, he said.

Some trail users are upset about land clearing that occurred along the park's Fitness Trail during the golf center construction. Bulldozing and widening also occurred along the Pine Trail and Patriot Trail, unrelated to the construction.

Joni Adams, a teacher and trail runner, spoke about her work maintaining the Patriot Trail over the last 10 years. She said she did not feel the commission respected the time she and her students spent volunteering.

"The trail will never be back to where it was," Adams said. "I don't think the trails here are a priority."

Hutchinson said widening of these trails allows more people to walk them and is necessary in case of emergencies. In the case of an accident, the park would be liable and not the private individuals who maintained the area.

The commission has invited Ken Dzaack, land manager for the Canaan Valley Institute, to attend the public meeting next Thursday, July 24 at 10 a.m. The institute will help create a trail plan for Coonskin Park. Board members hope this will be a forum to move forward on the trail issues.

"I'm sorry that people on both sides had words, but I hope they are not discouraged," Dailey said after the meeting. "I think that anytime you have people in the community involved in a discussion, it is constructive."

Reach Kellen Henry at khe...@wvgazette.com or 348-5179.