 - Several Lander residents offered feedback last week about the Conceptual Site Plan for the new Popo Agie River Park that was presented to the Lander City Council last month.){kind=link}
(Lander, WY) – Several Lander residents offered feedback last week about the Conceptual Site Plan for the new Popo Agie River Park that was presented to the Lander City Council last month.
The conceptual plan includes a “big peripheral kind of walking area” along the borders of the new park, with space for “a number of different park playground options” east of the entrance parking lot and an “active sports space” in the center of the property featuring three baseball diamonds and an area for pickleball and tennis courts, Landscape Architect David Land with the firm Ayres Associates said during last month’s special session.
All of those items were included in the conceptual plan based on “great feedback” Ayres received from community members, who shared “a lot of opinions” about the future of the new park, Land said.
“I think (what) rose to the top is that we kind of wanted it all,” Land told the council. “And I think that is actually doable out here. There’s a lot of real estate, (so) we did conclude that you can do pretty much everything that we heard the public wanting. …
“There’s some great opportunities down there.”
Softball fields
After hearing from Land, Councilmember Julia Stuble addressed some of the community “concerns” she has heard about “the balance (of) natural space and sports fields” in the conceptual plan, explaining that “the reasoning for having more softball fields here at this park is because of the vulnerabilities we have with the existing softball fields behind the high school.”
“We don’t own that land, (and) those sites have … incredible geotechnical issues for being developed ball fields,” Stuble said, pointing to soil and drainage problems at the fields behind the high school, where “everything is tilting and tearing and falling over.”
Earlier in the meeting, Parks and Recreation Director Kevin Green had noted that those softball fields behind the high school were “built on a swamp,” so “everything that we put in there will eventually hydraulic out of the ground unless a lot of money is invested in fixing that drainage problem out there.”
The situation has created some “unsafe” circumstances at the softball fields, Green added, recalling an incident earlier this year when some newly re-bulbed light fixtures ended up “exploding” on top of “old wooden poles with bad seals.”
Other lights on the field need to be straightened, Green said, but it has been difficult to complete that work because of the field conditions.
“We tried to get the poles straightened … this fall, (but) we got one of the vac trucks stuck,” he said. “It was wetter than heck, and they said, ‘Come back when it’s dry.’ And they haven’t been able to get back yet to get those poles straightened and foamed in.”
Stuble said those kinds of issues “might be insurmountable at that site.”
“(It’s) not an ideal place for the growing softball demand that we have in the community,” she said. “So finding a spot at this (new) park made some sense.”
Public comment
During the public comment portion of last week’s council meeting, several residents pushed back on the idea that the softball fields should be located at Popo Agie River Park, however, citing feedback from community members who participated in the conceptual design development process and expressed a desire for more natural space there.
Those community members “consistently emphasized the importance of preserving riparian areas, planting more trees, and minimizing over-development to protect the charm and ecological health of existing park space,” resident Kara Colovich said.
“They also mentioned a top priority being improving existing parks and minimizing large-scale development, (and) a moderate priority of adding new amenities and facilities,” Colovich said. “I don’t think that this was adequately represented in the Popo Agie Park, where there are major facilities going in with three softball fields and a pickleball court.”
Resident Monika Leininger agreed that, based on the feedback received during the parks planning process, “it seems like people really do want to preserve the natural space” of Popo Agie River Park – yet the conceptual plan shows that “a lot of the park space is going towards those sports fields,” which will be expensive to build and maintain, especially as “we see local revenues declining.”
“I would just really encourage the city to think about that and think about how people really do enjoy the natural space of the park,” Leininger said. “I think a path would be great, I think a playground … would be great. But I’ll say right now (the rest) seems really ambitious and, in my opinion, a bit of overkill.”
Resident Griffin Lawrence shared similar comments about the conceptual plan, reiterating that, when the city asked the community for feedback about the park, more people said they would like to see it developed as a “natural area.”
“Three softball fields (is) not what the public is asking for with that park,” he said. “So to see the majority and center of the park actually dedicated to something that’s going to be expensive to set up, expensive to maintain, and the public hasn’t asked for it, strikes me as maybe over-engineering or replacing a solution with a problem. … I would just love to see a little bit more care put into that part of the master plan.”
Alternatives
Colovich had also talked about the expense of installing softball fields and tennis courts in the area, suggesting that the city continue working with Fremont County School District 1 to address the issues as the softball fields behind the high school.
“I know that the report said there’s some issues with the geology of that area, but maybe (you) can bolster those existing fields and put them to better use instead of building three whole new softball fields,” she said. “(Or) maybe there’s some reconfiguration of the Little League fields that could also be worked with the softball fields … to rethink that instead of over-developing when we don’t necessarily need to in that area.”
There is also room for more pickleball courts behind the courts that already exist in town, she added.
“There’s a whole field to the back of them that’s not being used at the high school,” Colovich said. “If there’s a need for more pickleball courts, you could expand them to the back and the city could help pitch in for that with the school district if needed.”
If the city was able to rehabilitate the existing softball fields near the high school, resident Gina Colovich said there might be room for an outdoor swimming pool at Popo Agie River Park – an amenity she asked the council to consider.
“The existing swimming pool is very busy, especially in the summer, (and) a second, outdoor pool could be used for more of a recreational open swim and be an attraction,” she said. “There are several communities around the state (that) have outdoor swimming pools and they’re a gem for people and the population to use. …
“I realize softball has an economic development argument behind it, but an outdoor pool would serve more of the population of Lander.”
If a pool is too expensive, “at least a well-designed splash pad and more natural landscaping would be preferable to ball fields and give the children of Lander a place to cool off in the summer,” she said.
The last resident to speak during the public comment portion of last week’s meeting was Scott Rupp, who said he agreed “with all these comments on the park situation” but added that he would also like the city to do more to “address the privacy and security concerns of the residents around the park” by installing more signage directing traffic away from residential neighborhoods and dead-end roads.
‘No immediate plans’
At the end of the public comment period, Mayor Missy White noted that the conceptual design that was presented last month is just “a plan,” and “the city is not in a position financially or personnel-wise to start making any substantive changes” at Popo Agie River Park.
“We don’t know when we’d be able to start making changes to our parks,” White said. “I don’t see it anywhere on the near horizon, and the far horizon is a pretty distant one. (So) there’s no immediate plans to start making changes.”
If the city does decide to move forward with park improvements in the future, Land recommended having “a second conversation with the community” to work out the details at that time.
“When you … get money to go after this, then the next step is let’s circle back with the community and talk about the pieces so that you can hear what it is that neighbors need and how it best serves (the community),” he said.
The city council will consider adopting the parks plan at a later date, along with the city’s new master plan and strategic plan.
For more information, call the City of Lander at (307) 332-2870.