Willmar City Council seeks options to expand Sunrise Park parking lot

Feb. 21—WILLMAR

— The Willmar City Council would like to expand the Sunrise Park parking lot for safety purposes — which would add additional costs to the 2023 street improvement project budget.

Discussion of the Sunrise parking lot, and the overall 2023 street improvement plan, took place at the Feb. 6 City Council meeting.

City engineer Jared Voge sought the council's direction for the parking lot of Sunrise Park, located north of Willmar Avenue along 23rd Street Southeast. After presenting three options, Voge was ultimately instructed to come back with additional options that would accommodate 50 parking stalls.

Separately, the council also adopted the resolutions needed for the 2023 street improvement projects with the understanding they could remove portions of a project at a future date if needed due to budget concerns.

The first option for the Sunrise Park parking lot was leaving it as presented in the 2023 street improvement feasibility report, which reconstructed the parking lot in its current configuration with 13 stalls at a cost of approximately $50,000.

The second option would expand the parking lot west toward 23rd Street Southeast, which would allow for 23 parking stalls and cost an estimated $85,000.

The final option would construct a new parking lot south of the existing parking lot and connect the two lots with a bituminous path, which would provide 50 parking stalls and cost an estimated $190,000.

During discussion, Councilor Audrey Nelsen asked if it was necessary to complete the project this year. Voge said the parking lot could wait, but reconstruction of the trail that leads to the park needs to take place this year due to the poor condition of the trail.

Councilor Tom Butterfield was in favor of reconstructing the parking lot this year due to safety concerns with people parking on the street during ball games. He added that he has spoken with baseball association members who approve of upgrading the parking lot.

"(It's) a little bit more money, but, for safety-wise and everything else like that, I think the city needs to move forward with option three," he said, noting he would like to see the parking lot move a little more to the south to protect cars from foul balls.

Voge agreed to show a concept with the parking lot further south, noting it would both require a lot of additional work due to grade issues and would increase the cost of the project.

Councilor Justin Ask agreed with Butterfield that the project needs to be completed this year, noting that he lives near the area and drives by during games.

"Any time that there is a game, it is a one-lane street if you're lucky. Sometimes I feel like it is even narrower than that," Ask said. "I would definitely be in favor of adding the spots that option three was adding."

He also suggested configuring option three by moving it to the north, tying into the existing parking lot, and installing trees to provide some protection from foul balls.

"Just getting these cars off the street into a parking lot seems to be a win. It may not be perfect, but option three seems far more preferable than one or two," he added.

Councilor Carl Shuldes questioned if additional parking would prevent people from parking on the street, noting that option three would have people walking further to get to the seating area.

In response, Butterfield suggested having no-parking signs installed on the street. "I'm sure the homeowners won't complain about that at all," he said.

The Willmar City Council at its Feb. 6 meeting adopted the resolutions for the 2023 street improvement projects with the understanding that it would have the option to remove portions of the projects if needed.

During discussion, Councilor Audrey Nelsen brought up the question of removing some items from the list of projects due to budget constraints. The list of projects presented to the council in its feasibility report from city engineer Jared Voge totaled nearly $21 million.

Voge explained that it was just estimates in the feasibility report, and the city would not know exact costs of each project until it was bid out. Discussion regarding removing items from the project could take place any time between now and when the projects are bid out, he noted.

City Administrator Leslie Valiant pointed out the alternative the council was given would be to remove one of the project areas, which would save more than $7 million.

Due to the area being discussed for removal being in Councilor Julie Asmus' ward, and her absence from the meeting, Councilor Justin Ask suggested tabling the decision until a later date.

The project area that would potentially be removed would be the reconstruction of 13th Street Southwest from Trott Avenue to Willmar Avenue; Grace Avenue Southwest from 11th Street to 15th Street; Rice Avenue Southwest from Eighth Street to 10th Street; Eighth Street Southwest from Kandiyohi Avenue to Rice Avenue; and 10th Street Southwest from Kandiyohi Avenue to Rice Avenue.