World events delay Atlas Park opening

The opening of Atlas Waterfront park has been delayed.

“(The park) really is coming together,” said Bill Greenwood, Parks and Recreation director for Coeur d’Alene. “It really is. It’s just these last details that have been delayed that’s been frustrating, and it’s really out of anyone’s control. It’s more because of these crazy complications than anything.”

While no firm deadline was established, city leaders were hopeful of a mid-to-late-August opening. Shipping delays on materials due to longer port and custom procedures have since been compounded with stateside warehouses, businesses and distribution centers temporarily shutting down because of COVID outbreaks among work staff.

Greenwood nonetheless said stapling the delayed opening to the pandemic seems like a cop-out.

“Some of these delays are COVID-related,” he said. “But I feel like we’ve been saying that over and over, and it starts to sound like an excuse. Frankly, I’m getting tired of it, even though it’s just unfortunate timing, really.”

The most noteworthy delay wasn’t COVID-caused, though that was little consolation to Greenwood. The grass Greenwood intends to lay down is a hearty blend that’s been one of the cornerstone characteristics of the park, something he and other project officials have been excited to install since before ground broke. The grass seed, a relatively rare blend, was purchased and set to be shipped from growers in Oregon.

But Oregon, for those who haven’t been following the news, is on fire.

“They had to evacuate,” Greenwood said, referring to mid-September wildfires that placed almost 10 percent of the state under evacuation orders. “I mean, what can you do?”

The good news is that the company has opened once again and the seed will soon begin to ship, if it hasn’t already. Once open, the public park will feature inlets, grotto access, dog-friendly spaces, kayak and paddleboard launches, a picnic shelter, one of the most ADA-friendly systems in any Northwest park, and more than 4,000 feet of public shoreline access along the Spokane River.

Greenwood said while he expects the project to be done by the end of October, he’s not locking down a date.

“In our (project) meetings, everybody’s trying to hammer down an exact date,” he lamented. “I said, ‘Let’s not do that.’ We’re going to just do the work that needs to get done, get the main part of the park prepped, get it ready and get it open. We’re almost there.”

Some of the problems, Greenwood admitted, were not caused by the catastrophe of COVID or the devastation left in the wake of crippling wildfires, but rather from the unexpected hiccups that come with the territory of bigger construction projects.

“We had these really nice toilets that we special-ordered,” Greenwood said. “They’re really nice. And we opened them up to get them ready for the women’s restroom, and one of them came cracked. So when we open the park, one of the stalls will be closed off.”

When asked what the turnaround time on replacing the toilet looked like to him, he said he’d ordinarily be able to provide an easy answer.

“But with the way this year has gone,” he said, “who knows?”