The Parks and Recreation Commission and Kenai City Council held a work session last night to attempt to finalize Kenai Municipal Park improvement plans.
City Councilor Terry Bookey detailed the equipment recommendations from the commission.
Bookey: “If possible, if feasible they do think that all of that all of that equipment is appropriate for Municipal Park, the 2-5 year old, the 5-12, and if we can do it, the zipline.”
Originally the municipal park improvement plans began with a need for playground equipment specifically for 2-5 year olds. Although the 5-12 year old equipment at the park is still functional, the commission said it is old and suggested if it also needs to be replaced in the next few years just to do it all at once.
This year the council allocated around $200,000 in their budget this year for this project. With restructuring of the Kenai Municipal Park’s parking area and other grounds improvements to date, $380,000 has been spent.
Bookey: “It was presented to us today by the City Manager was about $400,000 – $415,000 and that was with his estimates for site preparations and so on and so forth. That number doesn’t specifically reflect that we have $400,000 worth of equipment and that’s where things sometimes get lost in translation is we throw these numbers out there and we don’t think about some of these other hidden things that have to be done.”
No action took place on the plans as it was only a work session, now the Kenai City Council has the daunting task of decided which improvements to move forward with.