By Kellen Olshefski
SLN Staff
The City of Elkhorn Municipal Services and Utilities Committee brought back discussions on the future of Elkhorn’s Babe Mann Park at the Oct. 10 meeting.
Alderman Scott McClory said he asked the multi-phase goal of improving and expanding the park be placed on the agenda as it’s something the city has discussed previously and with different members on the council several things have changed.
McClory said in speaking with City Administrator Sam Tapson, it was determined that before deciding to spend any money on improving the park, doing it in pieces, it would be wise to discuss the topic and determine what the council’s long-term goal would be for the park.
“I’m trying to bring everyone back together to say, to discuss, do you want to do a multi-phase improvement on Babe Mann Park,” he said. “If the answer collectively from the majority of us is yes, then we have to start doing some extensive preparation for that.”
Tapson said the city has a fully developed concept plan for the park and it’s something that is included in the city’s comprehensive outdoor recreation plan. Tapson said a committee of some sort could use these as tools to develop a plan that works.
Tapson said his only concern is that if the city does it in pieces, picking pieces out of a larger plan, it won’t accomplish much.
“Do we want it to be more of an aggressive use facility, do we want it to be more of a passive use facility, we haven’t defined any of those things,” he said.
Tapson said looking at the plan before voting on individual projects for the park makes sense.
Committee Chairman Michael Kluck said he agrees with the thought process that an improvement of the park should not be done in small pieces, noting that a future council might not agree with the plan and a half-completed project could fall by the wayside.
Tapson said he doesn’t think this is an urgent question, something the committee or council needs to make a quick decision on. He said he thinks the topic needs more discussion, possibly involving the Recreation Advisory Board and the LAS Ski Team, which has been using Elkhorn Lake for both practices and performances in recent years under a contract with the city.
“I just think a park is a facility that if you don’t do it holistically, you have the opportunity of making a mistake,” he said.
McClory said he doesn’t think the city needs to take on a “$1 million project” with the park.
“What I’m talking about is making relatively small, yet effective, changes to create a place where you want to bring your family again,” he said.
McClory said the council’s decision to repair Proctor Drive, which provides access to the park, was the catalyst that opened the door to improving the park.
“We went ahead and spent the dollars to get that repaired, it opened the door,” he said. “Now we’ve got a nice piece of asphalt, we’ve got hundreds of people that are coming on some weekends to see the ski shows.
“People are like why can’t we swim here, why is this falling apart, why isn’t there a concession stand or why can’t we rent a canoe. Those are all really good questions.”
Alderman Hoss Rehberg said he certainly agrees with reviewing the plans for the park. Rehberg said he would like to see the City’s Parks and Recreation Department, the Recreation Advisory Board and the LAS Ski Team, those who use it now, have an opportunity to review the plan. He said he would also like to see the plan brought to the committee.
From there, Rehberg said he would like to see all parties come together as a group to determine where to start. While he agrees it shouldn’t be done in pieces, he said it will likely have to be done in phases, but the city would have an end goal for the park to stick to.
“As long as everybody’s on that same page, we may only do a couple items, whatever is maybe most important … but I think we need some input and as a committee member I would like to see this go forward,” he said.
“I think we need to look at it all and bring it together.”
Alderman Tom Myrin said he agrees completely, noting it’s a “wonderful piece of property that’s way under-utilized.”
“It’d be wonderful to be able to see some improvements out there.”
As for the next step, Tapson said it would be to determine who would be involved in the review of the plan. Those involved would then review the plan and determine an approach to the end product of the park.
