City considering upgrades to River's Edge Park

Columbia Falls residents got their first look at three proposed plans for the future of River’s Edge Park recently as the City and the WGM planning group hosted a meeting on the subject June 20.

Three concept drawing were unveiled at the meeting showing a number of possible upgrades, including covered picnic tables, pavilions, restrooms, a dog park, a BMX bike course and more.

The possible upgrades come on the heels of the recent addition of a fishing pond to the park, a project that was funded by $150,000 in grants from the LOR Foundation and the Montana Fish Wildlife and Parks’ Bill Kamps Memorial Fund.

According to Columbia Falls Public Works Director Tyler Bradshaw, the fishing pond project was estimated to take up the funds from both grants, but came in well under budget. That left the city with nearly $50,000 to help jump-start additional projects meant to help enhance the park.

“The fish pond is not a finished product, yet. We are still developing that to make sure it is usable for everybody and that it stays in good condition, but this is a great opportunity for us to look at the park as a whole.” Bradshaw said.

To help draft a master plan for the park, the city contracted the help of Kalispell’s WGM Group of engineers, planners and landscape artists and also conducted both an online and physical survey of park users and area residents to help determine what people would like to see in the park.

More than 260 people responded to survey and, while there were some things that people generally agreed were needed in the park, there were quite a few varied responses.

More than 60 percent of those who responded to the survey said the park is in need of restrooms while 50 percent were in favor of gravel pathways and 53 percent wanted picnic tables.

All three proposed plans would see parking in the area increased from the current 30-40 spots to more than 100.

Other proposals received from the survey included a boat launch, a BXM bike course, playground equipment, informational signs, a disc golf course and an amphitheatre, among others.

Others were adamantly opposed to any additional development of the park.

“Just let land be land without developing it into a city park,” one respondent said. “We live in Montana for goodness sake, we don’t need everything to be paved and have things telling us where to walk.”

The survey also showed that 44 percent who responded would like to see more plays and concerts in the park while 42 percent would like to see more educational opportunities. Most popular, 54 percent would like to see more cross county skiing opportunities in the park in the winter. One person even suggested a “mosquito killing festival.”

The City will be wrapping up public comment this week and WGM should deliver the final master plan by Aug. 1.

More information on the project can be found on the city’s website at https://cityofcolumbiafalls.org/recreation/rivers-edge-park.

“Right now we are just asking questions and finding out what the neighbors think,” Bradshaw said. “In the end, it is a huge resource that belongs to the community and we are going to listen to what the majority of the people want.”