The Parks and Recreation Committee met 04/24/2023. One of the information items they received was an update on Lundgaard Park.
I’ve prepared a transcript of the discussion for download.
Lundgaard Park was named after Mitch Lundgaard, the Appleton firefighter who was killed by Ruben Houston on 05/19/2019 while he provided Houston medical care. The park is still in the early stages of development.
In December of 2022, the city voted to award a $300,000 contract to ISG for design services for Phase 1 of the park.
Phase 1 included dealing with the topography of the park, installing the utilities, and hopefully installing the playground and the courts if the budget allowed. The city was planning to open bids for that work this summer with work hopefully beginning in August or September.
The city was also seeking donations for the park. The city planned to put $2 million total in taxpayer funds toward the park with the remainder being raised through donations.
Dean Gazza, the Director of Parks, Recreation, and Facilities, said that there had been good momentum in terms of donations. Some companies had come looked at the site and expressed their intention to donate, but he could not announce anything definitive at that point. Sometime in the near future, after the main big donation was finalized, there was going to be an announcement regarding a public campaign to raise money for the park.
There was a fundraising website that was ready to go, and Director Gazza believed people could currently make donations through the site. There was some discussion during the meeting about whether or not the alderpersons could link to that website and publicize it now or if they ought to wait until the official public launch of the fundraising campaign. Director Gazza said they were fine sharing it and he thought doing so would build some excitement and let people know the fundraising campaign was coming. He reiterated that the major kickoff for the fundraiser would happen in the near future.
Alderperson Nate Wolff (District 12) asked for details about the memorial statue that was going to be placed in the park. Director Gazza answered that the memorial was a separate piece that would be worked on. Phase 1 would cover pouring the foundation for the statue, but then the Fire Department would hire somebody to design and create the actual artwork, so only at that time would they focus on the specific details of the memorial statue.
View full meeting details and video here: https://cityofappleton.legistar.com/MeetingDetail.aspx?ID=1092176&GUID=0DDFD8C8-ED54-46EA-A3D0-FB86E43E9EFC
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