The latest updates on plans for two planned recreation centers and the future of City Park were presented at the Manhattan City Commission’s work session in City Hall Tuesday.
City Park Master Plan
The plan lays out the long-term vision for improvements and projects around the park. The last version of the plan was adopted in 2006, but city administration decided it needed updates as many projects within it have already been completed.
Park Planner Alfonso Leyva said the goal of this plan was to “create a space that caters to bicyclists and pedestrians” while enhancing activities already in the park and improving accessibility. He said these goals were determined after reaching out to community members for feedback on what they’d like out of the park.
The total cost of all projects contained within the plan is estimated to be somewhere between $4,315,2000 and $5,985,840. The price tag would be incurred over time rather than all at once as the plan is broken into phases of implementation.
Potential future projects include the closure and eventual deconstruction of City Park Road, consolidation of parking lots from 13 paved and gravel lots to just 7 paved lots, improvements to ball field dugouts and irrigation, as well as the repurposing of the former Parks and Recreations building. Under the plan, open space in the park will increase from 30 to 31 acres, sidewalks and trails will increase from 1.89 acres to 2.9 acres, and parking and roadways will decrease from 6.44 acres to 4.2 acres.
Multiple commissioners expressed their support for eliminating vehicle traffic within the park. Leyva said they could easily shut down half of City Park Road by posting removable bollards — sturdy, metal posts — in the road while still maintaining pavement for bicyclists and potentially parades. Commissioner Wynn Butler said he thinks using bollards to close the road is a “good idea.”
Leyva also said they are looking at reducing parking lot numbers to only 7 paved lots based on desires expressed by the community to increase open space at the park. The consolidation would cut parking spots by about 130, but Leyva said they have also been looking at extending diagonal parking along Poyntz past City Park to 17th Street.
“That’s just an idea that the plan is proposing so that we can kind of move that parking that we see in the middle towards the boundaries,” said Leyva. “[Public Works] haven’t said no, and it is going to depend on what traffic counts are through the area, but it could be a possibility to see a road diet for Poyntz.”
Extending street parking along the park would reduce the number of available lanes of traffic on Poyntz. Mayor Mike Dodson presented a middle-ground between adding all-day parking along Poyntz at the park and doing nothing to increase open space.
“We may want to look at [adding street parking along Poyntz near the park]just when we have high density events and otherwise allow traffic flow,” Dodson said.
Commissioner Linda Morse asked why the plan includes the repurposing of the old Parks and Rec building is in the plan when the city built an addition on City Hall because the department said the building was unsuitable for their needs. Parks and Rec Director Eddie Eastes said the building is still useable and they did not vacate it because it was too dilapidated.
“The reason we moved out of that building was because it was too small, we had multiple people that were doubled up in offices and there was just one unisex restroom there,” Eastes said. “The building structure is still a useable structure.”
Eastes said that the building is ADA compliant and with some renovations could be useful for various activities and events. Leyva added that a potential sale of the Community House, which houses many activities, could speed up that decision as they would need to find new space for various community activities held in that building. Commission Wynn Butler said he’s in favor of the plan.
“[The Parks and Rec building] is still an asset, in my mind the Community House is a liability,” Butler said. “Anybody who’s crawled over that knows that that’s just an accident waiting to happen as far as our budget goes should we ever have to renovate it and put it back into useable condition.”
Mayor Dodson said he’d like to see more improvements surrounding historical structures such as the log cabin included in the plan.
“I’d like us to work with the historical society and others to maybe put some more things out there,” Dodson said. “Because a cabin all by itself is not very interesting.”
Other plans include improving parking and accessibility to Wefald Pavilion, improvements to the playground and the creation of a new nature playspace. Leyva and Eastes said they would be looking into any opportunities to fund projects via community donations — similar to the planned Johnny Kaw Plaza — whenever possible.
Recreation Centers
The steering committee established by the city has been working toward a recommendation of action on the two new facilities approved by tax payers in November 2017. The indoor centers are planned to be built at Anthony and Eisenhower Middle Schools and will cost a total of $17 million. McCownGordon Construction Project Manager Barry Schmidt and Anderson Knight Architects Principal Architect Tracy Anderson told the commission that the prices could fluctuate as the project progresses.
The new centers will be sectioned off so half of the facilities will be reserved for school use during school hours. They’ll include four athletic courts — two on each half of the facility — that will be made to be flexible to accommodate multiple sports including basketball, volleyball and pickleball. The plans also include a running track around half of the facility, two multi-purpose rooms, offices, a concession area as well as room for storage.
The darker gray gray buildings branching off of the new facilities (shown in yellow) in the composite images provided by the city represent additions that will be built as part of improvements within the new Manhattan-Ogden USD 383 bond and is subject to change. Schmidt also said that option B for the Eisenhower was preferred assuming that the city would move forward with an extension of Kirkwood Drive.
Commissioners were largely positive about the progress on the planned facilities. Commissioner Butler said the presentation answered the biggest question about the project — will dividing the recreation centers for use by the public as well as students actually work?
“You basically nailed it with the design with the way that’s set up with the gyms on either side so the school gets in one way and the public gets in the other way and it can work simultaneously,” Butler said.
Commissioner Morse was also pleased with the concepts that were presented, saying that she thinks “they represent what we had in mind with the sales tax originally,” Morse said.
Commissioners also discussed the exterior design of the facilities. The steering committee wanted to try to incorporate certain elements present in the schools they are attached to while still maintaining an identity independent of the schools. The favored design is called shifting ridge lines.
Commissioner Jerred McKee said he is happy that the designers are keeping the transient population of the town in mind and are working to make the facilities visibly distinct to signal they are open to the public.
“I’m not sure how you accomplish that, but I’m glad you’re thinking about it and I’d encourage you to keep discussing it,” said McKee.
Mayor Dodson said they may need to make the building a different color from the schools to achieve that. Commissioner Morse floated the idea of using unique naming to do so as well.
Mayor Dodson did have a criticism about the aesthetics of the facilities. He wasn’t a fan of the shifting ridge lines design, saying they shouldn’t prioritize style at the city’s expense.
The steering committee has a couple more meetings to work on the concepts. The item is planned to return to the commission for final approval in December or January. If approved, designs will be finalized in 2019 and construction would be scheduled to start in Spring 2020.
