City backs Memorial Field project

SANDPOINT — Residents had parks on the brain Thursday night at the administrative committee meeting.

Changes and improvements to Memorial Field and Lakeview Park largely occupied the committee’s hour and a half.

Memorial Field was first up to bat, with former councilman Doug Hawkins and Councilman John Reuter pitching a bevy of proposed improvements for committee support. Most important among those improvements are the installation of new lights and repairs to the grandstand.

“I’ve been harassing Parks Director (Kim) Woodruff and telling him we need to get on this sooner rather than later,” Hawkins said.

Hawkins, representing Friends of Memorial Field Committee, asked city officials to partner with their organization to help restore Memorial Field. He sought the dedication of $106,000 from the Parks and Recreation fund to get the project started. He said that he anticipates fundraising over the next four years covering most of the project cost currently estimated at more than $1 million.

Of course, that kind of money just doesn’t appear all at once, Hawkins said. The project is currently in the first year of a five-year fundraising plan. Hawkins said that the amount raised per year would escalate as project awareness grew. Improvements could be made in the order of importance, with light replacement taking top priority and architectural work on the grandstand playing runner-up. According to Hawkins, additional improvements are possible but not entirely realistic. Regardless, the Friends of Memorial Field would use community dollars wisely.

“We’re going to be asking the entire community to help out with this effort,” he said.

The committee agreed with Hawkins’ assessment, passing the request and adding it to the council’s consent agenda.

Next up, Connie Taylor, a representative of the unofficially-named Dog Friendly Sandpoint, requested that her group’s trial run at allowing leashed dogs in Lakeview Park become permanent. Additionally, she asked the committee to consider instituting a trial run in other parks as well.

Police Chief R. Mark Lockwood supported Taylor with a presentation detailing the benefits of dog parks. He said parks across the country had instituted a variety of cost-saving measures — like offering recycled department store bags for fecal clean-up — to curtail the conversion expenses. DFS could also apply for a surprising number of grants to finance the process.

Committee members approved Taylor’s request to make Lakeview Park permanently dog friendly and proved open to considering other parks and beaches for the experiment.

The evening came to a close with some rapid-fire approvals. The downtown city parking lot will be free from Thanksgiving until Dec. 31 to promote local holiday shopping. The committee also approved the routine destruction of semi-permanent, temporary and transitory records in compliance with Idaho Code.