Tim Ryan, tryan@wolfrivermedia.com
Pearl Court Park will remain intact after the Shawano Plan Commission scotched a proposal Thursday to split the park in two and sell off about half of it for residential development.
Angela Kort, a neighbor of the small waterfront park at Pearl Court north of Fairview Way, presented the commission with copies of the park deed, state statutes and other documents in defense of keeping it a park property.
She said the deed showed that the park had been donated to the city with the intent that it be used as a park.
“The neighborhood believes that, technically, it belongs to the public,” she said. “Therefore the public should have some sort of say in what happens to it.”
Kort said the park has become something of a bird sanctuary and has become a habitat for other wildlife.
Kort also disputed the contention that the property has never been developed or used as a public park. She said the park has had improvements that include two benches and a grill.
She said the park does get a lot of use, including block parties, family reunions and weddings.
Kort’s pitch was apparently an easy sell for the commission, which had several members questioning why the Park and Recreation Department was considering terminating a portion of it.
“We’ve got a beautiful lot over here and you want to get rid of it,” commission member Tim Schultz said.
City Park and Recreation Director Matt Hendricks said it was a matter of trying to make the best use of the city’s resources.
“Shawano is very lucky to have a very healthy and substantial park system,” he said.
The system currently includes 26 parks encompassing 300 acres.
“Why you would vacate an area like this is to become a more efficient system,” Hendricks said. “We have limited resources and we invest them where there’s high demand.”
A comprehensive outdoor recreation master plan is updated every five years, he said, which includes soliciting input from the public through surveys and open houses.
Based on that master plan, the park and recreation commission has chosen to prioritize other park areas, including the much larger Arlington Park, which is only about a block away from the 1-acre Pearl Court Park.
Some plan commission members, however, were reluctant to take away park space.
“Once you give up green space, you’re never going to get it back,” commission member Dick Felts said.
The commission voted almost unanimously to keep the park as it is. Chad Kary cast the sole no vote.