Otter Creek Park Will Close This Week

Otter Creek Park in Meade County is set to close this week. But efforts aimed at re-opening the park in 2009 are underway.For decades, Otter Creek Park has been owned and operated by Louisville Metro Government.   But the park will close on Friday to help meet a $20 million city budget shortfall.Metro Parks is looking for another entity to operate the facility, such as the state or the city of Fort Knox. Spokesperson Jason Cissell says even if a new operator is found now,  the park will still close this week.“It would take some time to transition it over to another operating entity, to give them time to staff-up and prepare to operate the facility," he says. "We don’t have a specific timeframe but we would be hopeful that it would re-open within a matter of months if someone else were able to come in and operate it.”Cissell says if a public entity doesn’t agree to take over Otter Creek Park, the city may consider private interests. He says a private operator would still be required to keep the facility open to the public, only for recreational use.