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CHARLES CITY PRESS | WWW.CHARLESCITYPRESS.COM | FRIDAY, MARCH 21, 2025
Parks and Recreation Board advances major projects and long-term planning
City gets disappointing news in EPA grant denial By Bob Steenson bsteenson@charlescitypress.com C harles City of fi cials and others had been pinning high hopes on a potential federal grant that could have had a major impact on the community. The $17.5 million EPA Community Change Grant had been tagged with projects ranging from the renovation of Charles City Whitewater to city park improvements and more sidewalks, to acres of solar cells at the city wastewater treatment plant and solar energy on city buildings. The city learned in February that it had not been selected among the grant recipients. The purpose of the overall $2 billion in federal grant money was to pay for “game changing” projects for communities. Charles City had quali fi ed to apply because almost all of the city and large areas surrounding the city are considered “disadvantaged,” according to the EPA guidelines. Out of about 2,700 applications, 105 communities were selected to receive $1.6 billion in funding. Charles City had partnered with the Charles City Area Development Corp. in applying for the grant to meet the requirement that a local non-pro fi t organization be involved in implementing part of the projects. CCADC’s part would have been implementing the green and healthy homes component, which would provide new electric furnaces and other electric appliances to homes that meet income guidelines, and help with the cost of removing 350 trees from private property and planting another 520 trees. The Community Change Grants Program is administered by the EPA and is part of the federal In fl ation Reduction Act. The grant money was aimed at supporting “community-driven projects that build capacity for communities to tackle environmental and climate justice challenges, strengthen their climate resilience, and advance clean energy.”
By Bob Steenson bsteenson@charlescitypress.com Two big projects that have been on the Charles City Parks and Rec- reation Board’s priorities list – an accessible playground and repairs to the swimming pool – are expected to be fi nished in the coming months, with the park possibly within weeks. Other projects – including poten- tial renovation of the Charles City Whitewater Park – will need more planning after a hoped-for multi-mil- lion dollar federal Environmental Protection Agency grant application was not approved. (See attached sto- ry.) One tool to help the Parks & Rec Board members decide where, when and how to make community parks and recreation improvement deci- sions will also likely become avail- able. The board was expected at its regular monthly meeting held Wednesday, March 19, to approve an agreement with MSA, a communi- ty development consulting fi rm with headquarters in Baraboo, Wisconsin, and of fi ces in fi ve states including four of fi ces in Iowa. (This section was produced before that meeting was held.) A certi fi ed planner with MSA remotely attended a Parks & Rec Board meeting last month and made a proposal to help create a “master park plan” – something the board members have been talking about for years. Members of the Charles City Parks and Recreation Board are Chair Jeff Otto, Vice Chair Sarah Barrett, Chris Eldridge, Diane Meyer, Cory Mutch, Scott Nolte and Dana Sullivan. The MSA “scope of services” proposes a fi ve-month process that includes an analysis of existing park facilities and amenities, community pro fi le and demographics, an analy- sis of needs and demands, goals for park and recreation planning, and recommendations for each of the city parks. The fi nal plan book will include maps of existing parks and service areas; goals, objectives and strate- gies; an action plan matrix; potential funding sources; and draft and fi nal comprehensive parks plan. MSA staff would visit Charles City
Dave Ruble photo for the Press A new accessible playground in Sportsmen’s Park in Charles City is expected to be open soon, once a poured rubber ground cover and wood chips are added.
and go to each city-owned park. Included in the $10,000 master plan would be diagrams and maps of potential improvements, as well as suggestions for locations of new parks to better serve the community. The accessible playground and the swimming pool repairs are likely to be fi nished before the master plan is. A work crew last week, March 10- 14, installed the play equipment and did ground work on the new play- ground at Sportsmen’s Park, west of the tennis courts. The price tag on this project is about $264,000. Tyler Mitchell, director of the Charles City Department of Parks and Recreation, said funds are com- ing from about $180,000 in several years of the Park & Rec Board’s an- nual funding through city hotel/motel tax receipts, proceeds from the sales of the Charles City-Opoly game, as well as a $50,000 donation from Steve White in memory of his moth- er, Donna White. The playground will have swings, an in-ground merry-go-round, zip lines, as well as a central play struc- ture. Much of the playground will have an accessible poured rubber surface, and the rest will have wood
chips. Mitchell said recently that the playground is awaiting several days in a row of nice weather for the ground to warm enough to pour the rubber surface and then put in the wood chips around the outer areas. There’s also a little groundwork for the city to do, such as planting grass in some areas, and some side- walk work to complete an accessible path to the playground. The Charles City Rotary Club has also agreed to create a small shelter project next to the playground with shade and seating. The other big project expected to be completed this spring is the ren- ovation of the Lions Field Park out- door swimming pool. Mitchell said the plan is to have the pool ready by its usual sea- son-opening date, around Memorial Day, but like everything involving an outdoor swimming pool, a lot of things are weather-dependent. “So as of right now they have completed most of the work inside the pool shell itself,” Mitchell said on March 14. The crew has to paint the pool and do some touch-up things, but they need temperatures above a certain point for a certain number of
days before they can paint. “So when that gets done, who ex- actly knows, but hopefully soon,” Mitchell said. A crew started the “inside work” last week, consisting of the repairs and replacements in the fi ltration and circulation systems. Realistically, people using the pool this summer won’t notice much changed, other than the fresh paint and one feature that will be added – a climbing wall taking the place of one diving board. In the 33 seasons since the pool opened in 1991 it had begun to show its age, with cracks opening up at the cement slab joints, cracks and chipping cement and tile elsewhere, problems with pumping and water treatment equipment, and also not meeting Americans with Disabilities Act requirements. In early discussions, the Parks & Rec Board had considered a major update that would have substantially renovated the vessel of the pool and added new recreational features, such as a “ninja” climbing structure, an- chored fl oatables and a shallow play structure. PARKS , turn to page B4
EPA , turn to page B7
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