A group of citizens will get the opportunity to provide input on a master plan for city parks in Eureka Springs.
At its June 21 regular meeting, the Eureka Springs Parks Commission spent a majority of time talking about a planning committee that will be formed to discuss ideas for city parks.
Information collected from those ideas will then be reported to the commission to be used in developing a master plan for improvements and possible changes to the parks, according to parks director Scott Miskiel.
“I believe that having a committee appointed at this time can help to outline the direction that we want to go in deciding the things and the items that are going to be part of an overall master plan,” Miskiel said. “We just need to have a group that can start to formulate a plan and get public input on what we want in that plan.”
Miskiel said he recognizes the need for public input, something that has been discussed many times in recent meetings.
“The public has been asking for quite some time for input on these sorts of things and I think it’s time that we give it to them and appoint a planning committee that could help us to move towards a formal master plan for our parks,” Miskiel said.
Miskiel said he envisions a planning committee of five to seven people with diverse backgrounds and interests.
“We should try to get some degree of diversity of opinions or of interests,” he said. “We have a big biking component, but we don’t want all bikers. We want hikers, we want people who are interested in native plants and those sorts of things. We need people with different interests, different perspectives.”
Commissioners discussed making sure the planning committee’s purpose was to work on a master plan for all parks and not just Lake Leatherwood Park. Newly appointed commission vice chair Bren Marshell was selected to be the board liaison on the committee.
In other business, the parks commission voted to amend this year’s budget by $15,334.
Other discussions focused on road improvements at Lake Leatherwood, a county road that the parks commission has been told in the past it is responsible for .
Miskiel said $30,000 in improvements are needed on the road and it was unclear if the current budget already had that amount earmarked for the project.
Commissioners asked Miskiel to double-check whether that amount had been set aside for the project and also discussed the thoughts of the county taking over the maintenance of the road since Carroll County will have a new county judge.
“We’re going to have a new county judge at some point, so it may be worth waiting until we can coordinate with them,” commissioner Sue Hubbard said.
Miskiel said while a new county judge could result in a different opinion, the county hasn’t been willing to help in the past.
“Well, with a new judge, it is possible that we could have a different outcome there,” Miskiel said. “I think it’s unfortunate that this is a road that we have to repair. This is a county road still, but in the past, at least, the county has not been willing to make the repairs.
“And so, at this point, we either allow it to continue to get into a worse state of disrepair or we make the patches ourselves. Up to now, the county has not been willing to do so, and public works doesn’t take responsibility because it’s not a city road.
“So, we are left with either allowing the road to continue to get worse or we repair it.”
Hubbard was also selected to be the commission liaison on a trails committee.
