Jamestown City Council voting session (March 27, 2023)
Jamestown City Council has approved moving forward with two splash pads in city parks with the requirement that more engineering work be completed on Jackson-Taylor Park.
Council member at Large Jeff Russell cited his concerns about Jackson-Taylor Park being the best place to locate a splash pad from a safety standpoint, “There’s a lot more traffic down there now with places like Tim Horton’s there. Obviously, we’re putting a new facility (DPW Central Garage) in down there with large trucks. My ultimate fear is that a child is going to be crossing that roadway, unsupervised possibly, and is going to be struck by a vehicle and killed. That is my ultimate concern with it being down there.”
Russell also expressed concern over the soil stability and that he had asked Parks Manager Dan Stone if other locations in the park could be used, “He said there’s really no other place to put it because of the instability of some of the soil down there and really the only logical place is the old skatepark is, where the blacktop is. And it’s even questionable whether it can be placed there. What I would hate to see is to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars putting the splash pad in that location and then have it fail a couple of years down the line and pretty much be a waste of money.”
Russell made a motion to drop the amount of the project funded with American Rescue Plan monies from $500,000 to $400,000, citing $100,000 in state funds that Mayor Eddie Sundquist said were supposed to be approved. The motion also included that the city hire a private engineering firm to look at the soil stability of Jackson-Taylor Park for the splash pad. If the study determined the site was not suitable, the motion further said that the splash pad should be moved to Roseland Park with the proposed pickleball court for that location being relocated to the Jackson-Taylor Park skate pad.
The motion passed unanimously, with the amended resolution passing 8 to 1. Council member Bill Reynolds was the only no vote, citing other priorities that should be funded.
Two community engagement meetings will be held on the splash pads with the first taking place this Thursday, March 30 at 6:00 p.m. at the Allen Park Rink. The second will be held at the Jackson-Taylor Park large pavilion at 6:00 p.m., Tuesday, April 11. Mayor Sundquist said that community meeting will also be combined with the HUD Action Plan community input meeting.
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