Depot Park planning is underway

Development of a master plan for Depot

Park is currently underway, according to Whitefish parks director

Karl Cozad.

The city purchased the popular 1.8-acre

park, home to tent cities during Tuesday farmers markets and

occasional arts and crafts fairs, in a cash and real estate

transaction with Park Side Federal Credit Union signed in 2006.

The total price was $3.8 million,

divided into two installments. The first installment included a

cash payment of $800,000 plus three city-owned lots in the Baker

Commons subdivision, where Park Side built their new facility. The

second installment of $1.3 million was paid off in fall 2009.

A special dispensation granted by the

state will absolve the city from any pollution cleanup in the park

caused by underground diesel fuel plumes currently located east and

west of the Amtrak depot.

The city drilled eight test holes as it

finalized negotiations with Park Side in 2005. Seven came up clean

and one, at a north-central location, revealed slight

contamination.

Among the improvement ideas raised by

parties interested in Depot Park are tearing down, replacing or

renovating the former Park Side facility, or just the drive-up

deposit building, removing the pond and building a new

bandstand.

None of these ideas have formal

standing right now, Cozad said — even if someone has begun

soliciting funds for a new bandstand. The only thing in Depot Park

that has any element of permanence is the bronze statue of the

railroad worker bending over to talk to a little boy, Cozad

said.

The city’s planning and parks offices

are currently housed in the Park Side building while awaiting a new

city hall.

The city issued a request for proposals

for a Depot Park master plan in December. Two local companies

responded, and a review committee appointed by the city Parks Board

chose Bruce Boody Landscape Architect.

Since then, the Parks Board has

established a steering committee to handle the public process for a

master plan. Committee members will be chosen by the Parks Board,

including representatives from the Parks Board, the city, Stumptown

Historical Society, Downtown Farmers Market, Whitefish Chamber of

Commerce, Heart of Whitefish and three members-at-large.

The steering committee will meet about

six times over the next six months, Cozad said, during which time

public input will be taken. The tentative timeline calls for a

draft plan to be submitted to the Parks Board in September and to

the city council in October.

Besides laying out a design for the

park, the Depot Park master plan will offer ideas on funding for

the improvements. That could include city tax-increment finance

(TIF) funds, resort taxes, state and federal grants, and private

donations of cash or in-kind services.