LCDC antes up for study

COEUR d'ALENE - The possibility of revamping McEuen Field keeps moving forward.

The project's latest hurdle was cleared this week, as Lake City Development Corp. said it would pitch in for the latest conceptual design initiative on the downtown park.

The board agreed Wednesday to pay 75 percent - up to $100,000 - of the new planning project.

The price on the study is yet to be determined, but the city will pitch in $25,000. Requests for qualifications for the companies looking to do the work will go out in early May.

The city has held a couple of community meetings on what the conceptual design should or could include. Those plans drew up possibilities of gazebos, walkways, more green space and other amenities for the park south of Front Avenue near Tubbs Hill and Lake Coeur d'Alene.

Those designs drew on information from an old master plan and downtown economic studies the city engaged over the last decade that included McEuen Field strategic concepts.

Those studies include the Walker-Macy and Hyett Palma studies, which cost the city around $218,000, and $11,600 for the conceptual design penned by an architect company after the community and a group of citizens, the Committee of Nine, melded together many of the ideas.

The new company will be comprised of landscape architects and engineers to see whether the new plan - once it is fine-tuned - still fits the bill.

LCDC said Wednesday that the new study could include roughly seven lots of properties the agency owns south of City Hall.

At the end of the discussion and planning phase, construction of some kind is expected.

"We're still hoping to break ground next year," said Doug Eastwood, parks director.