Salina seeks public input as filling in of Jerry Ivey Park pond likely coming
A replacement water feature is looking to be the way forward as the Salina City Commission signaled its intent, once again, to fill in the pond at Jerry Ivey Memorial Park.
During a study session on the pond, which has been plagued with a blue-green algae problem for the past several years, the four commissioners present indicated their desire to have city staff look at options for filling in the pond and then move forward with a possible water feature at the site.
Representatives from McClure Engineering showed several examples of water features throughout the United States to give the commissioners ideas of what could be done at the site of the pond if it were filled in.
"This day is important, to help us create an understanding of what your likes are," said Jim Schuessler, senior project manager for McClure.
McClure showed those in attendance at the study session several photos of water features and, using polling through the web browser accessed on a phone or computer, had people choose which options they preferred.
The company focused on two main types of water features as possibilities for Jerry Ivey.
"One is more of a natural water environment, sometimes that water's going vertically, most of the time it's...falling water, around different kind of rock formation," Schuessler said. "(Another) is a memorial (feature). Since this is the Jerry Ivey Memorial Park, we're going to showcase some ideas of how (a) memorial is integrated into a water feature."
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Apparent agreement on size and scope of potential water feature
While McClure showcased mostly larger-scale water features, the commission agreed that anything that would replace the pond would need to be appropriate for the park, especially with the cost of building it coming at the hands of the taxpayer.
"A lot of the stuff we looked at (today), looked like several million dollars," said Commission Bill Longbine.
City Manager Mike Schrage noted that while the photos shown to the commission were mostly large features, it would be possible to scale those concepts back to something more attainable at a lower budget.
No matter what the budget might be for creating another water feature, the commission did agree that the best solution for the pond was to fill it in.
"We need to move on (from the pond)," Longbine said. "The health hazard (of) the algae needs to go away."
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Public input to be gathered in January
As for the next steps, McClure is planning to take the ideas and input that the commission gave it during the study session, and create a survey for the public to offer their input as well.
"We'll...build out a Survey Monkey survey that we hope to have available by the first (part) of January," Schuessler said.
The plan would be to roll out the survey to the public via social media and other means and have it open for around 10 days to receive input. This short timeframe will allow McClure to compile the information and get it back to the commission as quickly as possible.
"We can...have our results summarized by the end of January," Schuessler said.
After the survey results come in, the commission can then decide what, if any, water feature should be installed at the park and what kind of price tag the commission would be willing to place on that feature.
"(From) what I heard McClure say, if we give them a budget, they can design to it," Schrage said.
As for a timeframe of when people may expect to see a new water feature at the site of the pond at Jerry Ivey Memorial Park, Commissioner Mike Hoppock said he doesn't believe this is going to be or should be a fast-paced process.
"We can do a survey, but I don't think that survey (means the city is) breaking ground and doing something new by June," Hoppock said.
This article originally appeared on Salina Journal: Salina likely to fill in Jerry Ivey pond, replace with water feature
