During the Parks and Recreation Committee meeting on 03/21/2022 Parks, Recreation, and Facilities Director Dean Gazza gave the committee an update on various Parks and Recreation projects.
Pierce Park – From April through June a lot of the hardscapes, roads, and trails will be reconstructed resulting in a lot of improvement. The inconvenience will be that they will not be able to allow rental of the pavilion for a period during that time, but they will be trying to limit that as much as possible. That park will then be in really good shape with new roads and trails as well as a recently new playground and an updated pavilion.
Alderperson Alex Schultz (District 9) thought the improvements at Pierce Park, particularly around the tennis courts would really improve the space and make it more useable.
Ellen Kort Peace Park – They will be bidding out the trail. They were not able to get the necessary permission from Neenah Papers to build the bridge across the water like they had hoped and will have to wait to get that permission from the new owners of the Neenah Papers property. The money that would have gone to that bridge was instead transferred to the city’s trail initiative. The idea was that people would be able to come down through Jones Park, go through the former WE Energies property which will become part of Ellen Kort Park and walk along the edge of the river before coming back up and going over to Vulcan Heritage Park.
Alderperson Schultz wondered if the funding that was available would only cover the grading and pavement of the trails or if there would be any utility work done also.
Director Gazza said they had done some cost estimating and had originally thought they could only do the trails and not even the lighting on the trail; however, the engineer now thought they could afford to light the trail also. So, they would have lighting and the trail.
Additionally, there was other work to be done once the fence around the WE Energies property came down. There was a retaining wall that was in very bad shape, so they wanted to cut that wall out and regrade it so it transitioned into the park. That was the extent of what the budget could carry at this time.
Alderperson Schultz was excited and thought it would be a significant improvement to install the trail and lights.
Director Gazza thought in that state the park would get some significant use and said it was possible that Appleton Downtown Inc might start trying to program it for different things. Parking was available nearby, though not at the park itself, and although there were no bathrooms there, organizers would have the option to bring in porta-potties.
Pickleball Court – The city received a generous donation from Mary Beth Nienhaus for a pickleball court in Telulah Park. The bids the city received for the court were higher than the amount of the donation, so the Common Council approved using carryover funds to allow them to complete the court along with lighting and a couple shade structures. That project will start as early as they can in spring with the hope of opening in June or July.
Green Meadows Park – That park will be getting a new basketball court because the current court is in such bad shape it is unusable.
WE Energies Trail – The city had received a grant from the Community Foundation for the trail. The trail will run from South Oneida Street to Lake Park Road underneath the WE Energies power lines that run along there. The city received permission from WE Energies to run a trail. The next step was to bring the project to the neighbors and make them aware that the trail consultant will be back there doing geotechnical testing.
The city had sent a letter out and some residents had already started giving feedback. Some were positive about it, but some were worried having a trail in their backyard would lead to crime. Director Gazza pointed out that trails had not led to crime in the Highview Park area or other areas of the city.
At the end of the May they planned to hold an open house at Reid Golf Course regarding the proposed trail where people could get their questions answered.
Jones Park – Money had been appropriated to install shade structures at Jones Park. They were also going to install some lighting in the back area up the hill on the stairs that lead to the jail.
Alderperson Joe Prohaska (District 14) asked if they were going to install lighting at Erb Park.
Director Gazza said they would like to do something at Erb for the volleyball court. Someday they would like to install a dedicated volleyball court, but right now they can utilize the assets they have such as the lights to create an area on the grass where people can play volleyball until something else can be built.
View full meeting details and video here: https://cityofappleton.legistar.com/MeetingDetail.aspx?ID=928133&GUID=EBC7C550-ADBC-49C3-A86F-E87A9598FA13
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