Trending
FAIRMONT - At Tuesday's Fairmont Park Board meeting, the prospect of a parks master plan was explored and discussed.
In doing Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) projects with the City Council through workshops, City Administrator Jason Baker said they have been developing a variety of master plans and citywide assessments.
"One of those that I put in there that have been brought up previously was for a parks master plan for the city. It’s very common to have in most cities, especially of our size."
Baker estimated the cost at around $90,000 to cover 31 parks. He said there isn't a lot of support from council to have it paid for through taxes, but that is fine.
"Yeah, we want to do this in 2027, but with the knowledge that, unless we find another option that’s not taxpayer money, we’re not going to do it," Baker said. "That’s my thing. I’m going to be leaving that in the [budget] with that caveat of if we can do this, if we can find another way to fund it, the goal is to do this in 2027."
A memo was passed out to each member of the board, laying out the importance the Fairmont Park Board would have in establishing a master plan for the park's future.
"Identifying the purpose, potential grants, assisting to outreach to park users and athletic organizations, identifying existing needs, challenges, opportunities, and then helping develop the purpose and scope of this, and working through the overall project itself to make it come to fruition," Baker said.
City Council Representative Randy Lubenow probed regarding this and the plans Public Works Superintendent Nick Lardy already puts forth with the park equipment yearly. Lardy said that's just a basic plan based on when equipment was installed.
"We don’t have like a big thing that says, 'These seven shelter houses. This is the best one. This is the worst one. This one should get replaced in the next three years, replaced in the next five years,'" Public Works Director Matthew York said. "'This one needs paint, this one needs garage doors or windows or whatever.'"
The way Fairmont currently does it, York described it as reactionary, where there is a problem with something, and it is looked at then.
Board Chair Jodie Whitmore said there is an important distinction to be made between the full-fledged parks and the smaller pieces of green space that are counted as parks. York said that is part of what they need to see with a master plan.
"What can we do at Ward Park and can we do something else at Charlotte Park?" He said. "Is there a need that we’re not being met someplace else that we should put there? Is there a need at Veterans Park that we can do? Is there a need at Bullhead Park? That park doesn’t get utilized very much, but is there something that we could do down there? Even if it’s just pollinator parks and stuff like that to bring back environmental awareness."
York asked the board if there is anything they would need that would help them with this. Board Member Joni O'Brien said she would like to know how many kids live in an area surrounding a park that used said park. York piggybacked on this statement, using Holden Park as an example.
"Holden Park," he said. "There’s very rarely kids there now," he said. "A lot of the parks that we have, like Holden Park, are not legalizable for anything else. It’s not big enough for our house. What are we going to do there? We could take playground equipment out and just leave it grass, or pollinator plants or something there."
Baker said the purpose of bringing it up now is to get it in front of the park board so they are aware and can think about it as things move forward regarding budgets in the next few months.
In other news:
-- Lardy said the growing speed of grass continues to be what they struggle with and work on the most, especially as five of their eight seasonal workers have already returned to school.
-- While the new West Belle Vue Playground equipment has not gone in yet, Lardy said after Friday, when the Aquatic Park closes, that will free up enough people to get the equipment in soon.