Master plan in action
The newly formed Hot Springs Parks and Recreation Board held their first meeting on Tuesday, May 18 to begin discussions on plans for the city park.
The newly formed Hot Springs Parks and Recreation Board held their first meeting on Tuesday, May 18 to begin discussions on plans for the city park.
The board has a big vision for the park and although the group is only in its infancy, creating a master plan for the park is already underway. There are five additions to the park the board plans to attack: creating a skateboard park, a playground, a splash deck, nature trails and accessory structures such as picnic tables, barbeques and updating the restroom facilities.
By the end of the meeting, the board decided to divvy up the tasks to each of the five board members for them to begin initial research on each individual project in order to bring them together and create a master design.
Each member of the council was appointed for a specific reason. Mendy Estill, who is also a city council member, is on the board for her organizational skills and will be taking the task of finding grants and doing research on accessories for the park as well as looking into a nature trail.
“I want to make sure we’re on task and everyone is heard and we keep moving forward. That’s our primary target and I want to get it done for the community,” said Estill.
Dustin Herbert, who is a teacher at Hot Springs schools, spends his summers in Billings working as a recreation supervisor. On top of that he skateboards and was assigned the task of doing research on the skate park.
Herbert will be assisted by John Marshall in designing the skate park. Marshall has previously been on two skateboard advisory committees in Wash.
Marshall was also assigned the task of looking into the nature trail as well as helping out with the designs of the skateboard park as that is inherently a larger project than the others.
Leslie Smith, owner of the Symes Hotel and city council member was assigned the task of researching the splash deck. Smith played a crucial role in implementing a public pool in town and has designed every pool at her hotel and was therefore assigned the task of researching a splash deck design and potential funding opportunities.
The fifth park board member and mother of two kids, Judie Norgaard, was assigned to research playground equipment.
Once initial research on these five aspects of the overarching park project are complete, the board will create a master plan and then start attacking one project at a time depending on feasibility and funding.
Although major designs for the outlook of the park are at the beginning stages, the five board members gave suggestions of potential grants for the individual projects and are determined to add these features to the park no matter how long it may take.
“If you have a nice vision of a master plan of a park, and we have some incredible credibility in town when it comes to following through with projects, and we have the city on board, then realistically if we designate where we want what and what we want, we can put price tags on that. And then from there we can see what we can build ourselves and what funding we need,” said Smith.