McEuen's time has come

This Tuesday, the Coeur d'Alene City Council will consider approving the next phase of a project that started a decade and a half ago.

Transforming downtown ball fields, a boat ramp and its accompanying parking lot into something more, something that would benefit more people in more ways, is a process that began with informal meetings by local citizens in 1996. They shared a concern that downtown was faltering, and that one of its greatest potential strengths was lying dormant most of the year. In 1997 voters approved creation of an urban renewal agency to address both of these issues: Bolstering downtown through tax-increment financing and focusing on a development plan that would help McEuen Field reach its potential as a place that gives back to the community.

That's why Tuesday's meeting represents merely another McEuen phase, albeit an important one. After 15 years, 14 separate studies and endless debate and discussion, the council appears poised to decide whether McEuen will be transformed or if it will remain what it is today: A park offering little to anyone not playing baseball and a boat launch that has largely served out-of-staters.

Fully one third of the McEuen Park area is asphalt. If the council approves the new master plan Tuesday, eventually, McEuen will create for citizens five additional acres of waterfront parkland - an acquisition worth millions of dollars. Moving to equal or better locations will be the ball fields that serve only hundreds of patrons each summer and a boat launch whose usage has declined from 7,000 launches in 2003 to 3,000 launches last summer.

Not everything in the master plan is to everyone's liking, and that's OK. As time goes by, future citizens and future City Council members will have flexibility to determine what's most wanted and how to pay for it. That flexibility is key as our community moves forward with McEuen.

And now is the time to move forward. A group of 21 citizen-experts has developed a master plan that is a workable starting point. Through the city's urban renewal agency, funding for the project's infrastructure is available. The boat ramp and ball fields can be relocated and the McEuen property can be prepared for whatever it will become in the years ahead.

We applaud Team McEuen for working diligently with the entire community yet sticking faithfully to their charge, which "is to develop a dynamic master plan, that allows the park to evolve into a destination park, with compelling and memorable features that serve the greatest number of uses for the greatest number of people, of all ages and abilities, throughout all seasons . . . ."

We encourage the City Council to approve the master plan with plenty of flexibility on future projects. By moving now, work 15 years in the discussion stage can finally begin.