Parks And Recreation Committee Receives Update On Park Projects – Alderperson Wolff States Update On Trout Museum Will Happen At 02/15/2023 Common Council Meeting

The Parks and Recreation Committee met 02/06/2023. One of the items on the agenda was an update on various parks projects.

I’ve prepared a transcript of the discussion for your downloading pleasure.

One would have thought this was the place where the public could find out the status of the Trout Museum’s efforts to gain approval to build a museum in Ellen Kort Peace Park. That information, however, was not available, and was only briefly touched on. Alderperson Nate Wolff (District 12), the chair of the committee, stated that Mayor Woodford would be giving an update regarding the Trout Museum and Ellen Kort Peace Park to the Common Council on 02/15/2023 at their 7PM meeting.

Alderperson Israel Del Toro (District 4) asked Director of Parks Recreation and Facilities Dean Gazza if he had heard anything from the Trout Museum about their outreach and education efforts regarding the project. The alderperson said he had wanted to see the Trout invest more in communicating and winning over the community, but right now the community members he was speaking with still largely opposed the museum being built in the park. “Without that changing, come the next possible stoppage for the project. I can’t see myself continuing to support that exploration. Having said that, it–you know that they’ve had a few months now to sort of strategize and see if there’s any sort of outreach and communication. Have you heard anything from their part?”

Director Gazza answered, “No, I have not had one conversation with one member. Not an email, not a phone call. Not a voice conversation.”

The committee did receive updates on a number of ongoing and planned parks projects.

LUTZ PARK TRAIL – Currently, the park has a trail that goes along the river from the Yacht Club through the park and dead ends at the end of the park. The city would like to extend the trail up to Alecia Park. Right now the trail runs right along the river with no railing, which can be a little dangerous for bicycle riders. They would like to maintain that trail for pedestrians but then add another section of trail that runs through the park alongside the road and then goes up to Alecia Park.

BOARDWALK CONNECTING THE APPLETON YACHT CLUB TO VULCAN HERITAGE PARK – The city would like to connect the area by the Appleton Yacht Club and Lutz Park to Vulcan Heritage Park with a pier boardwalk in the water. They had originally wanted to have the boardwalk tie into the embankment, but the railroad did not allow them to do that. Hence the need for it to be a pier walkway in the water. They are conducting a feasibility study with the Army Corps of Engineers, the DNR, and others to determine what is required for such a walkway and come up with a budget estimate. Director Gazza estimated it would be 5 years or a little more before they got a permit to construct it, but they at least wanted to determine if it was feasible and how much it would cost.

BRIDGE FROM ELLEN KORT PEACE PARK TO PULLMAN’S (DAVID AND RITA NELSON BRIDGE) – This project was put on hold when Neenah Papers (which owns the water rights in that area) put their property up for sale and would not approve any construction. John Bergstrom is familiar with some of the people involved with the sale and had offered to help facilitate contact between the city and those people. The city still has $500,000 in grant funds for the project waiting at the Community Foundation and another $300,000 from Outagamie County. The project will cost more than that, but $800,000 was a good start.

TELULAH PARK – The city wanted to redo the old road that comes down the hill, winds past the docks, and goes back toward the hotel. They would redo the hardscape and upgrade it, and planned to do that sometime this year. They were also going to upgrade the bathroom facilities at Telulah and add a family bathroom.

Additionally, the city has been waiting for the ground to freeze so that they could bring in a truck to install lights on the pickleball court; however, due to the mild winter the ground never total froze so they were re-strategizing how to install the lights.

This summer they plan to install a drinking fountain by the pickleball court as well as some furniture.

LUNDGAARD PARK – They had their first meeting for the design of the civil work and the utility work for the park. They were hoping the budget will accommodate some of the amenities such as the pickleball courts, basketball courts, and playground. They were also continuing to solicit donations for the park construction. Some local firms had indicated they were going to donate and the city was waiting to determine the amount of the donoations.

ELLEN KORT PEACE PARK – The city continues to work on that park. The lighting fixtures were going to go up in the spring and the sexual assault survivors monument will also go up later this spring.

ERB PARK – Volleyball players had been playing volleyball on the tennis courts when it started to get dark because the tennis courts were lit. The community members had talked with the city about having lighting within the park and dedicating an area for volleyball, so the city was working on installing lights.

View full meeting details and video here: https://cityofappleton.legistar.com/MeetingDetail.aspx?ID=1073944&GUID=5352BF65-6CC2-4A24-9200-699697194020