ILLUSTRATION COURTESY OF ROBERT W. DROLL, LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT, PS

This is a rendering for the proposed 18-acre community park at 36th and Meridian that will be put on the Aug. 19 ballot. If the bond measure passes, it will cost the average homeowner about $11.50 a month.

Bond committee working fast to educate citizens

By Clare Jensen

After the first of July, Edgewood residents can expect to know a thing or two about the proposed 36th and Meridian community park.

That gives them just over a month and a half to make up their minds on how they will vote August 19 (even less time for those who choose to go absentee).

Brochures, letters, fliers and posters urging voters to check the “Yes” box on the ballot for the park bond are being put together as quickly as possible by the Park Bond Committee, who admit that they are a little behind.

The motion to place the bond on the August 2008 ballot was approved by the city council on March 11, and the Park Bond Committee had their first working meeting June 11.

The committee, which is comprised primarily of Parks and Recreation Advisory board members, friends of the parks and members from the proposed park’s Ad-Hoc committee, also face the challenge of meeting as a group; the advisory board members are careful not to meet, or even email together at once, to avoid violating the state’s open meeting laws.

But regardless of the unanticipated time crunch and possible quorum difficulties, Park Bond Committee Chair Diane Kerlin says they will meet their July 1 deadline for distributing educational materials.

So far the only visible support for the bond has been from Bond Committee members. Kerlin said they are determined to educate the public as to why the 36th and Meridian Community Park is needed for Edgewood.

“There’s a crying need for this,” she said. “We have only the one small active park in Edgewood. It’s a nice little park, but it dos not meet all the recreational needs of Edgewood, and Edgewood is growing.”

The bond, which requires 60 percent of the voters in favor, is set at a price not to exceed $8 million over a 20-year period. That should cost the average homeowner about $11.50 a month, and is expected to go down as the population in the city increases.

The city is also actively pursuing grants, according to Acting City Manager Janet Caviezel. Those should also bring the monthly cost and duration of the bond down, but they cannot be acquired until the city shows a financial commitment – such as by approving a bond.

The original bond measure, which was amended by the council Feb. 25, was set at $7.3 million, a figure that would cost the average home-owner about $10 a month.

The 18-acre park is design-ed to include several recreational amenities including a synthetic soccer field, and

designated spaces for tennis, baseball, basketball, running and walking. An amphitheatre, picnic shelters, restrooms, open spaces and a children’s splash court are also features of the community park.

If the ballot does not pass, it will be put up for election again in the future.

Caviezel said for the size of the park and the amenities included, there are really no other funding options other than issuing a bond.

This is the first time the city of Edgewood has proposed a bond measure.

Interested in helping out with the Park Bond Com-mittee? Contact Chair Diane Kerlin at drkerlin@comcast.net to find out how.

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