Kenai parks commission backs federal grant bid for scaled-back Old Town Park overhaul

Old Town Park in Kenai would get new playground equipment and a new basketball court under an $800,000 plan, about half the cost of an earlier rebuild design. The Kenai Parks and Recreation Commission voted 4-0 Thursday to recommend the City Council let the city seek up to $250,000 from the federal Land and Water Conservation Fund to help pay for it. Commissioners Wisniewski, Bernard, Fisher and Carlson each voted yes on the motion.

"This reflects one of the steps on getting some outside funding is going after a Land and Water Conservation Fund grant," Parks and Recreation Director Tyler Best said.

City planning materials listed the Old Town Playground Reconstruction at $1.635 million. Best said that design, drawn up about two years ago, would have bulldozed the park and started over with a pavilion, running-water bathrooms, a full basketball court, a cement path, a new parking lot and lights. "I don't know if that's in the realm of possibility of finding that much outside funding," Best said.

The new plan keeps the park's layout instead. Best said the city would "replace the basketball court where it is" and "replace the playground equipment where it is." The year-round bathroom is out of the new plan. Adaptive and inclusive playground equipment stays in it. "We can still make that happen without changing the parking area, changing where the fence is," Best said.

The grant would cover part of the $800,000, not add to it. The Land and Water Conservation Fund program pays up to 50 percent of project costs, and the current application cycle caps individual grant requests between $25,000 and $250,000. Best offered a rough split of $400,000 from the city general fund. Best called it "a little bit of a live number" because the city is still looking for other sources.

Land improved with these funds must stay in outdoor recreation use permanently. Best said the city already lives with that rule on other parcels. "We can't just sell the golf course, 'cause it's marked as land water conservation funds, 'cause we took funding for that," Best said. Best said the city has no plans to give up Old Town Park. "We see it as a park forever," Best said.

Best and the city planning director are writing the application now, Best said. The city has also sought letters of support from the Kenaitze and Salamatof tribes. The resolution goes next to the Kenai City Council.