Public participation is always welcome in Mill Creek city government.
But there have to be limits, or wish-lists for capital projects will break the bank, say City Council members.
That’s why community members won’t be tapped on a planned sports park expansion until consultants provide an estimate for development costs and basic amenities, including fields and rest rooms.
“You have to tell people up front how much money they have to work with,” Councilwoman Mary Kay Voss said. “Just because my guests come to eat at my house doesn’t mean they have a say in how I remodel my kitchen.”
An overview of the planning phase submitted by consultants on Sept. 2 called for a series of public discussions with the Parks Board and various stakeholders — with no budgetary guidelines — to establish three master site plans for the Council to choose from.
“We’ve been down this road before when we were planning for the community facility that was supposed to be part of Town Center,” Voss said. “The community invested so much time and effort and when the proposal came back to the Council it was more than $8 million and we had to kill it. People cried. I don’t want a repeat of that mess.”
The Council dedicated $7 million for the park expansion in the 2008-2015 capital facilities plan, but the figure is intended only as a placeholder. The majority of the council won’t support spending more than $5 million on playfields — two soccer fields, a youth softball field and adult baseball field.
“If it costs that much to develop that property into playfields then it’s not the appropriate site for a sports park,” Councilman Mike Todd said. “I think there are other options we need to consider — partnering with the school district, for example — if this comes in higher than $3 million or $4 million.”
The city purchased two properties adjacent to the existing sports park earlier this year for a combined $5 million.
Todd and Voss aired their concerns in February that it would cost too much to develop the area, but other council members argued that the city’s initial interest in the properties was for parks alone.
While Mayor Terry Ryan agreed that financial parameters must be in place before the public weighs in on the project, “We identified this property to expand our parks. It was an appropriate site then and it’s an appropriate site now.”
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