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Politics & Government

Community Park Plans Proceed

Wildwood's volunteer planning committee members hold final meeting for future community park.

Volunteer residents on Wildwood's (CPAC) recently walked the grounds of the city’s planned 63-acre park. The property is located near the northwest intersection of Highway 100 and Missouri Route 109, adjacent to Windsor Crest subdivision. 

After two public forums, an online survey filled out by 1,000 residents and many over a nine-month period, have finished their information-gathering phase regarding Wildwood’s newest park. They met on Wednesday night to approve the concept plan.

Committee members compared the topography to the drawings presented by the Oates Associates consulting firm. Doug Carlson, a member of the CPAC, said, “On our tour of the property, what struck me was how well the property fits the park,” he said. “It has some unique features."

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Darren Dunkle, another member of the group, said the topography lends itself to a variety of activities.  There is a creek running through the park property and a pond is planned. "I know the community is really going to enjoy this park,” he said.

This is just the beginning of the planning, but committee members and city officials have included that ranked high on the survey responses. There will be playgrounds, walking trails, pavilions, open play areas and hard surfaced, multipurpose courts. 

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A discussion pursued about the possibility of including a dog park in the design, but most committee members wanted to first include the top survey choices in the design. 

In addition to park amenities, city staffers are including a maintenance building where they can store salt, rock, mulch, equipment, tools or other maintenance materials. There was some discussion of noise issues connected with the maintenance building, but committee members approved the location of the building. 

Committee members also reviewed the conceptual drawings and maps. They questioned Bill Burke, of Oates Associates, about the trees on the property and asked if the trees would be saved. He indicated that the large, valued trees would be retained and many “scrub” trees would be removed.  Many trees also will be planted during the building process. 

With only 10 members present and one abstaining vote, it was not possible to get a quorum vote, but the roll call vote showed that the committee approved the concept plan.

This was the CPAC’s last meeting, and now the project will move on to two different city council subcommittees, who will discuss the plan. There will be more hearings about park details.

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