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WOOD RIVER - A splash pad may be coming to Wood River after City Manager Steve Palen announced a grant is available to cover the entire project cost and more. City Council members are likely to consider and vote on the item at a future meeting, though project plans are far from final.
“I’ve received information … about an outside grant that's out right now for distressed communities, of which we are one,” Palen said at Monday’s City Council meeting. “We’re eligible for 100% funding - typically [it’s] 40-60%, so there’s some moneys out there right now for projects or property acquisition.
“We don’t really have a property acquisition project in any of our thoughts, but we had been kicking around the potential of a splash pad there at the Rec Center and we wanted to get the council’s thoughts on that.”
Based on the cost of splash pads in nearby communities, Palen said if the city secured the entire grant amount of $600,000, they would have more than enough for the construction of a similar splash pad for $400,000 to $500,000. Roughly $100,000 would be left over for other park improvements, including playground equipment, baseball field upgrades and more.
Councilman Bill Dettmers asked for a more exact location for the proposed splash pad; Palen replied it would likely be built in the southeastern corner of Central Park, surrounding the Roundhouse. While an exact construction timeline is still unclear, a splash pad is estimated to take two to three months to complete.
Dettmers also said there was talk of building a swimming pool in the area, but Mayor Tom Stalcup later said that wasn’t the case, only that he previously said he would “never say never.”
Councilman David Ayres asked for proposals to be put in writing for future consideration. Palen added that city officials should decide soon whether to pursue the splash pad and/or what other projects to spend the potential grant funding on, as the application deadline is approaching in roughly six weeks on Sept. 1, 2024.
A full recording of the July 15, 2024 Wood River City council meeting is available at the top of this story, on the Riverbender.com Facebook page, or on Riverbender.com/video. All Wood River City Council meetings can also be watched live or on demand on Riverbender.com/video, the Riverbender.com Facebook page, Roku app, or YouTube channel.
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