Turf decision stalls as parks plan initiated

SANDPOINT — As the city initiates a master planning effort for Sandpoint parks, Memorial Field’s future turf remains a mystery.

“I truly feel we would be better served to go ahead and hit the pause button on Memorial, kind of set that aside until we can have this ‘bigger picture’ look … We are a small town, but we think big, we do big, but we’ve still got to pay for our stuff,” said Kim Woodruff, Sandpoint Parks and Recreation director.

City Council will ultimately decide whether to install artificial turf, natural turf, or a combination of the two at Memorial Field — a conversation that began in the spring of 2017. City Administrator Jennifer Stapleton said regardless of which direction the city goes, costs will increase by approximately $80,000 to $130,000 per year for additional maintenance.

Also no matter which turf option is chosen, the installation will be funded through the city’s 1-percent local option tax. How to fund the ongoing maintenance is the question that looms.

The discussion rose during Wednesday’s City Council meeting as Woodruff and Stapleton provided a presentation on the upcoming Parks and Recreation master plan. The current master plan was developed in 2010, and several things have changed since then, including the YMCA, Ponderay’s Field of Dreams, expansion of bike trails into the watershed and more, Woodruff said. It also did not include any site-specific or financial planning.

The new plan will be addressed in five phases over the next year, Stapleton said. In the first phase, a community context/resource inventory will be done to review existing conditions and trends, conduct site inventory and analysis of the city’s parks, facilities and recreation programs, as well as to map data and address accessibility.

The second phase looks at master planning on a system-wide level, Stapleton said, including review of previous plans, going through a public input process, creating a needs analysis and developing a prioritized action plan.

The process will then move in to the third phase, which includes taking all the information learned in previous phases and implementing site-specific planning in areas such as City Beach and Memorial Field. Phase four would move into new and refined programs and services, Stapleton said, looking at service delivery that compliments and enhances other recreation programs in the community.

“Particularly with YMCA coming in as a new presence in the community, really trying to work out what we’re doing, what they’re offering, and how we can, again, with meeting public priorities, work together to offer the best programming and not duplicate our efforts” Stapleton said.

The final phase, she said, will be operational and maintenance planning. This phase includes a financial plan, anticipation of equipment and capital replacements, and staffing projections.

“As Kim referenced, in our existing strategic plan that was developed back in 2010, this was really a critical missing component,” Stapleton said.

Stapleton said staff is looking at having a request for proposal or request for quotation issued for a consultant by Jan. 15. A consultant will be selected and a citizens advisory committee will be formed by Feb. 28, according to the timeline. While the timeline could be subject to change after a consultant is selected, the city plans to garner public input between March and November through workshops and online engagement.

Mary Malone can be reached by email at mmalone@bonnercountydailybee.com and follow her on Twitter @MaryDailyBee.