Parks meeting focuses on Mattson property, trails

The long-coveted Mattson property — purchased last year with the intention of turning it into a lakefront park in downtown Lakeside — has been the subject of numerous debates in recent months, but owners Bruce Ennis and Maggie Davis say they intend to follow through.

Davis presented an initial proposal for the park to the Lakeside Community Council last October, after more than two months of negotiation to acquire the property at the intersection of Highway 93 and Adams Street. The property extends from the highway to the lakefront and abuts the Bayshore Restort Motel property on the south.

Although the property boasts 190 feet of frontage on Highway 93 and 135 feet of frontage on Adams Street, it narrows to just 69 feet of frontage on the lake and is bordered by a private residence on the north. The narrow lake frontage and proximity to a private residence have been the source of much of the contention.

While Davis conceded that the size of the property posed certain limitations that could not be avoided, she stressed the importance of the property and its viability as a park.

What offers, Ennis and Davis have contended, is a safe place to cross the highway at a location with both a yellow light and a crosswalk, making it the most ideal site for a park that will be utilized by both senior and young children. Throw in a sizeable parking area with enough space for at least 20 vehicles, and the couple suggests it is a site with more to offer than any park currently in use in the Lakeside community.

The two have envisioned the park as being a shaded, day-use, ADA-accessible picnic area that is suitable for relaxation and small gatherings, featuring attractive landscaping, paved sidewalks and a paved path leading to the lake shore and a shallow beach that could be designated as a wading area for small children. What they do not want, Davis told the community council last October, is parking for boat trailers, boat docks, boat launchs, swimming platforms or major structures along the shoreline.

Earlier this month, Ennis submitted three new conceptual drawing of the park he and his wife are proposing for the Lakeside Area Parks Committee to consider during their March meeting. The drawing were produced by Bruce Boody Landscape Architects with survey information provided by Sands Surveying.

The drawings showed a paved 8-foot wide bike path that runs parallel to Highway 93 along the western edge of the park. The path would access the park from the west, and a bike rack would be provided adjacent to the parking area. A winding pathway follows the well-shaded contours of the park, passing two separate pavilions and at least four picnic tables, then descends to the lake with proposed handrails along the access ramp. A small, roped swimming area would also serve as a safe area families to get into and enjoy the water.

The drawing also show a section designated as grasspave, a porous paving designed to perform like asphalt or concrete with the aesthetic appeal of a lawn that never gets shredded by equipment, weather or heavy use.

"We thought [the drawings' were far enough along conceptually that we could begin to show them to people," Ennis said in an interview last weekend. "We're satisfied with what they are, and we feel that it's an appropriate design. They show the features that we think a park like that should have. Our purpose now is to get them out into the community and get some feedback."

Ennis has not previously determined to whom the park will be donated, but is presently leaning toward turning it over to the county, since it would fall under the oversight of the local parks committee. According to LAPC chairwoman Tamara Tanberg, Ennis has made it clear that he desires the park to be named as a community park and not after himself.

Ennis said he brought an arborist to the property to examine the trees and advise him of how best to utilize them in the design of the park. He added that Boody spent a significant amount of time figuring out how best to incorporate the trees into the design and make weave the walkway through the landscape to the water without making the grade too steep, since ADA accessibility was a major concern. He also stated his expectation that the park will include a place for launching kayaks, canoes and other non-motorized boats, while protecting the beach and its users from any motorized disturbance.

In other discussion, Tanberg mentioned that the county parks board still intends to pursue a county-owned gymnasium. With the Stillwater gymnasium no longer on the market, county parks director Jed Fisher has shifted his focus to building rather than buying, even if that means using county funding and incurring some initial debt.

Tanberg and others have suggested that the money that is being withheld for the project could be more effectively utilized in the county's existing parks. Their suggestion has been to maintain what the county already has and use the money in the fund to obtain matching grants for projects to improve existing properties.

It was noted during the LAPC's March meeting that, by using some of the money currently set aside for the gymnasium as matching funds, the committee could likely secure a grant from the U.S. Tennis Association for construction of courts at Ben Williams Park.

On a separate note, Tamberg applauded the recent offer of YWAM staff to provide park cleanup volunteers to serve the Lakeside area. Additionally, she noted that it may be possible to obtain CTEP money to build sidewalks and trails as safe routes to and from school, which would more cohesively unify the community.

Discussion is still underway in regard to the proposed motorized trails system, which would primarily utilize existing but abandoned logging routes on and near Blacktail Mountain. As expected, that discussion also involved extending a non-motorized trail system to connect Lakeside to the Foys to Blacktail Trails system.

More information may should become available in regard to both projects sometime this spring, with a clearer vision possibly taking shape toward summer's end.