Tim Ryan, tryan@shawanoleader.com
The city of Shawano has been getting positive feedback on its proposals for the future development of two of its downtown parks and is still looking to hear from other residents.
The Park and Recreation Department and consulting firm Rettler Corp., of Stevens Point, unveiled a number of options for Franklin Park and Spirit of Shawano Park at an informational meeting at City Hall last month.
The public will get another chance to see those design options Saturday during the farmers market, which runs from 8 a.m. to noon at Franklin Park.
Park and Recreation Director Matt Hendricks and John Kneer, landscape architect with Rettler Corp., will be on hand to take feedback, answer questions, show off the designs and hand out smaller copies to those who are interested.
Hendricks said he has been personally contacted by a number of people since last month’s meeting. Others have responded on the department’s Facebook page, through emails and even ideas written on scraps of scratch paper.
There is also a drop-box for feedback located at City Hall, 127 S. Sawyer St., next to a display of the proposals.
Hendricks said the feedback so far has shown strong support for making a permanent home for the farmers market at Franklin Park.
There has also been interest in a fountain or some type of water feature and landscaping to beautify the parks.
Also popular is the idea of adding an archway welcoming visitors to Shawano that could stretch across Green Bay Street from the northeast and southeast corners of Green Bay and Main where Spirit of Shawano Park is located.
“They feel it could bring some identity to the city,” Hendricks said.
Other proposals for the park presented last month included opening up the quarter-acre site and making it more noticeable, additional native landscaping, background fencing to highlight the existing sculptures at the site, and a shallow creek that could run through it.
Three variations on a concept plan for Franklin Park included such possible amenities as an interactive water fountain, multi-purpose stage area, playground, veterans memorial and a promenade along which farmers market vendors could be located.
There has not yet been any cost analysis of the proposals.
The city will continue soliciting community feedback until a finalized plan goes before the Park and Recreation Commission, possibly in October, and then to the Common Council.