Electric City to display park plan Thursday afternoon

Local residents will have an opportunity to see and comment on Electric City’s park and recreation plan Thursday, June 8, at 3 p.m. at city hall.

The park plan has yet to come before the city council, and there will be plenty of time for public comment before it becomes chiseled in stone, City Clerk Russell Powers stated. In addition to this public presentation, the city is planning a public hearing on the plan sometime in July.

The plan was developed by a team of an assistant professor and students at Washington State University after several information-gathering public meetings in Electric City.

The plan was just returned from one of the city’s prospective grant sources without any suggestion of changes.

At the top of the chart is the development of two parks in the city, one near the arsenic treatment plant and the other behind the fire department building.

The goal, according to city officials, is to apply for grants in 2018 and develop the parks in 2019.

That development all depends on grants.

The overall plan includes such things as sidewalks in the downtown area, an Ice Age Floods trail system, and other cosmetic improvements.

The trail system has become a sore spot for some residents who don’t want trails in their neighborhood.

The city sometime ago set aside $400,000 from its hotel/motel tax fund as matching money for the trail section between Coulee Playland and North Dam Park. That notion would have to be tweaked so the city could target its use on a broader plan.

The public will see the finished plan, and make comments on it, before it goes to the public hearing stage and then to the city council.

At any rate, the draft plan is finished, is available for tweaking, and the process will go on.