Park board looks at revamped 50-acre park bond, Wren Pierson redesign
By BECKY THOMAS
Staff Reporter
It was the most eventful park board meeting in recent memory.
At the meeting and community open house June 24, plans for the Wren Pierson Building remodel were unveiled to the public, large grants were discussed and it was revealed that the city is considering placing a $2.5 million bond on the November ballot to begin construction at the 50-acre park.
Parks and recreation director Paul Simmons said he had instructions from Mayor Tom Trulove to discuss the possibility of the bond, which would be half the amount of the $5 million bond that narrowly failed passage this past November.
Simmons said he and Trulove thought shrinking the amount of the bond would lower the burden on taxpayers while filling the city's need for fields.
“We're kind of thinking the $2.5 million would be a good amount because of what it would allow us to do for future use and future growth,” Simmons said.
Park board members expressed support for the idea to retry the bond in a smaller amount, citing low construction costs and a desire to host regional sports competition. Board member Tony Tobin said November might be too soon, since citizens may want to see the cost of the upcoming Wren Pierson Building renovation before they approve another construction project.
Board member Kraig Witt said earlier would be better.
“I think we may have a more positive chance a few months from now than a year and a few months from now,” he said. “If we ask them for less, maybe we'll satisfy those who said it was too much. My gut is this is something that might work out.”
Simmons urged board members to discuss the idea with family and friends, and come back to their next meeting with “a better sense of what the community thinks about this.” The city has also hired a research group to conduct a poll of 400 registered voters in Cheney to gather opinions about the needs of the community and the future of the 50-acre park.
While Simmons said the city has at least a month to decide whether to place a measure on the November ballot, architects and city staff have been racing the clock to prepare plans for reconstruction of the Wren Pierson Building. Lead architect Matt Jacoby of Bernardo Wills Architects presented the designs to the board after a one-hour open house in which community members offered comments on them.
Jacoby outlined the proposed changes and additions, including rebuilding the multipurpose room that collapsed under the record December 2008 snows and adding roughly 300 feet to the main entry facing the parking lot. Offices will be moved to the front and the dance studio, senior center and kitchen will be improved. Jacoby said the rest of the space would be gutted and redesigned.
“Right now there's a lot of walls in there that aren't needed and so basically all those walls that you see now, all those will go away. They're almost all non-structural walls,” he said. “There are some columns that need to stay, but if you walk in there today we're really going to tear all of that out.”
A meeting room will replace the current parks and recreation offices in the building, and the rest of the main level space will house the teen center and preschool facilities.
Jacoby said plans for the lower level were less defined, and he and city officials were working with the organizations that were previously housed there, including the Cheney Outreach, food bank, clothing exchange and museum.
“We've just started the discussions about what kind of space they need, what kind of access, how big the restrooms need to be, how much storage they have, what kind of access is off of Fourth Street,” Jacoby said.
Park board members approved the plans, and Jacoby told them the next step would be selecting specifics such as finishes, colors and fixtures and nailing down costs of the work. Jacoby said they would use insurance settlement funds and city funds to pay for the project, and a third party cost consultant was working on providing different options for the building.
Jacoby said the project is set to go to bid in September, with construction beginning as soon as a contractor is approved.
“We want to try to get that roof on and then have the whole winter to work inside,” he said. “It's a great winter project because the bulk of the work is inside.”
The park board also heard presentations for two grants from the Recreation and Conservation Office for which the parks and recreation department will apply. The first, a $37,500 grant, would build 1.5 miles of wetland trail behind the city's wastewater treatment plant. The second is a $500,000 grant to build three fields, restrooms and a parking lot at the 50-acre park. Both grants require a 100 percent match.
Finally, Simmons thanked the students of EWU's Dressler Hall for donating more than $1,000 of proceeds from a 3-on-3 basketball tournament to the specialized recreation program. He said they would likely use the funds to buy a tent for the specialized recreation athletes to take to track meets and other competitions.
Becky Thomas can be reached at [email protected].
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