The Levee Park Committee, in charge of revitalizing Winona’s underused riverside park, wants to make sure the plans don’t end up forgotten on a shelf.
The committee worried that if the Winona City Council, which will make the final decision on any plans for the park, got one large recommendation for what to do with the park, it would be too grand a concept — with too big a price tag — for the council to jump on board. That’s why the committee spent Tuesday’s meeting hashing out how to strategically present the plan to the council — which they plan to do in June.
“If we send just one item and say it’s what we want, there’s a real chance that we end up on the back shelf like many plans have,” Committee Chairman Frank Pomeroy said.
The group decided to break down each section of the plan — submitted by hired consultants — and make recommendations on each piece of the plan so it’s manageable, both in concept and for the purpose of prioritizing actions.
One member suggest hiring a professional to sort through the pieces price them before going to the city council.
“I do think we need a facilitating process,” committee member Natalie Siderius said. “A couple planners, an engineer, come up with those long and short term plans, what those dollar amounts might look like. Then we can make better recommendations. I think we should have that roadmap.”
Pomeroy said hiring someone else this late in the process could mean more delay and could detract from the value, talent and expertise already at the table. A number of committee members are city and county staff or former staff.
Other members agreed with Pomeroy, but a few stated that at some point a professional will need to be hired to help look at pricing and feasibility.
“We won’t know what it’ll cost until we have somebody look at,” Anderson said.
The committee was also a bit worried that if the plans weren’t moving forward fast enough the public would lose interest.
To ensure the momentum and energy continues, some committee members wanted to concentrate first on short-term goals that could be easily accomplished. It would let the public know work is in process and would give the city council small bites of the project that could be easily managed. Others cautioned that concentrating on small goals could delay the larger plan.
“There’s a fear of getting bogged down and having nothing happening,” committee member Owen Warneke said. “
“I would just caution that we don’t recommend a bunch of temporary fixes,” committee member Tina Anderson said.
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