WAUPACA COUNTY POST

May 29, 2003

 

Letters to the Editor

Riverview Park will encourage private investment

 

To the Editor:

            The city of Waupaca has let out bids for the proposed new rampway into Riverview Park and they are due June 2, 2003.  It remains to be seen if the bids will come in under the $300,000 budgeted for the rampway, canoe launch, riverside amphitheater and fish outcroppings.

            This project has stirred up some controversy with the recent call for a referendum on the issue and I’d like to address some of the pertinent particulars on this project.

            Some people have said we’re spending too much money on a park that will benefit only a few people.  Others have said that they’d rather see the money spent on the park itself rather than on an access to the park.  These are valid concerns, but they don’t address the entire picture.

            The city of Waupaca has been awarded a $250,000 matching grant from the Department of Natural Resources for improvements to Riverview Park.  The rampway is handicap accessible.  If our city doesn’t use the grant for these purposes, it loses the grant and some other city will receive money.  In order to receive these funds the city must come up with a matching $250,000.

            Thus far, Waupaca companies have donated time and machinery to remove the old asphalt and grade the lot in preparation for seeding; buried electrical liens and feeds to buildings at reduced costs and donated all the poured-in-place concrete for the project.  Main Street Waupaca has donated $13,500 from Riverfest proceeds and $4,000 from their Mardi Gras dinner and the Garden Walk toward landscaping in the park.  These efforts account for nearly $40,000 toward matching the grant requirements.

            The city of Waupaca has spent $190,000 to date on items that qualify for 50 percent grant funding.  These include the new archway entry at the top of the ramp, sidewalk improvements at the ramp entry on Main Street, light fixtures for the ramp, burying electrical, telephone and cable lines in the park, as well as landscape architecture and engineering fees.

            As you can see, the grant is very nearly met already.  If the bids come in on budget, it would take only a minimal additional capital outlay to finish the project. In summary, the city will be spending approximately $%210,000 to receive $500,000 worth of work.  This is a 140 percent return on its investment.

            This park is small, but the impact it could have is huge.  This park is only a block from the city square and City Hall, in the heart of our downtown, located on a river, a Class A trout stream, no less.  This park when completed will be a beautiful gem that will act as an anchor store does in a mall.  It will draw people to the downtown and in the process they will visit our shops and businesses as well.

            Downtown is a unique part of Waupaca and will contribute greatly toward the overall image and appeal of our community.  Remember, other cities have industrial parks and fast food and big box developments just like ours, but our downtown is a big part of what makes Waupaca inviting and memorable.

            Beyond the aesthetic and commercial appeal of this park is the economic development potential that this brings to the community.  Over the last few years, the city has developed eight TIF districts around the city to encourage new development, growth and increased tax revenue in the future.  We have been told that the reason the downtown wouldn’t qualify for a TIF district is that it has no potential for new development in the district.

            This may be true; however, what this park bring sis the potential for economic development of existing space that is currently sitting empty and unused.  Presently, there are approximately 50,000 square feet of space on the lower levels of the existing buildings on North Main Street and East Fulton Street that face the river.  None of this space contributes significantly to the tax rolls of the city.  With a potential draw such as the park, this space can and will be developed, at the expense of the owners, and thus added to the tax rolls, contributing for years to come.  This is another long-term return on the city’s investment.

            There are many unquantifiable reasons that this project is a good idea.  The ramp would provide a gateway to the park directly from Main Street that would also provide a great view of the river as you enter.  And if the planned pedestrian bridge to the residential neighborhoods to the west is completed, the center city kids will have safe and easy access to a great park right in their neighborhood as well as to downtown.  Part of the plan is to tie many of the planned branches of the River Ridge Trail together in the park.

            The backs of the buildings that face the river have been called a “ghetto” recently.  Well, I wouldn’t call them that, but I would say that this is one of our more unsightly areas in town and only a block from City Hall.  However, there have been many improvements recently and several building owners plan to make improvement to their properties this year.  Future improvements have been planned as well.  None of these would have been likely without the proposed improvements to the park.

            There is an old adage in development that says take the worst property on the block and make it the best, thereby improving everyone’s property in the process.  Improve the park and private developers will see the value of improving the property around it.  Hasn’t this philosophy worked with the property surrounding Swan Park?

            I feel confident that the playground equipment and play features that are part of the master plan for the park will be added in the very near future through further efforts of concerned groups and citizens, just as is ongoing with Swan Park.  But I also feel that if we don’t complete the ramp access from Main Street to the park by implementing this grant, it may never be completed and the money lost.

            I think it’s very important that we, the citizens of Waupaca today, leave a legacy of foresight and caring about the image and livability of our community for future generations and as previous generations did for us when they created South Park, Brainerd’s Bridge Park and all the other great parks in Waupaca.

                                                                                    Terry Martin, Waupaca.