Spencer Park Board OK's Matthiesen to lead next master plan process

Local landscape architect Matt Matthiesen was selected by Spencer Park Board members Tuesday night to facilitate and create a master plan for West View Memorial Park. Matthiesen was one of three architectural firms offering a proposal for the work surrounding the five-acre park adjacent to Johnson Elementary School in west central Spencer.

Matthiesen's $6,750-plus-reimbursable-costs proposal compared to those submitted by Matthew Fair Jones, LLC of Minneapolis for $13,750 and Jon Jacobson, the principal/landscape architect at Confluence in Sioux Falls for $17,000. RDG Planning and Design of Des Moines, which has completed master plans on five of Spencer's parks since the late 1990s, was also invited to submit a proposal, but declined to due to an already busy workload.

As presented in his proposal, Matthiesen would plan to facilitate an initial public input meeting between April 6-10. Following Spencer Park Board input and completion of a revised concept drawing, Matthiesen is offering to host another public input meeting between April 27 and May 1. He would then present a final master plan for West View Memorial Park to the board for its approval on Tuesday, June 9.

The projects proposed during upcoming public input meetings, including replacement of the park's brick walkways, would be budgeted for in 2010, as well as over the next few years, Spencer Parks and Recreation Director Delray Bredehoeft said.

A regulation-sized basketball court is among the projects proposed during the master planning process for North School Park. Bredehoeft told Spencer Park Board members that $50,000 has been budgeted for this project. He then said he'd put together specifications -- for carting in fill dirt that would bring the area up eight inches and pouring in a five-inch slab of concrete -- and present quotes received during the April board meeting. Actual work on the basketball court could commence in May.

In other discussion, the board agreed to host another park forum following the 2009 Clay County Fair. The matter is expected to be discussed again during the board's September meeting.

Board members also learned that the Spencer Alliance for a Creative Economy (SPACE) group has a public art project in the making right now in which area artists are looking for places to locate their handiworks. Bredehoeft said a Spirit Lake artist doing some pieces for placement at the Pearson Lakes Art Center this summer contacted him about placing a cut steel piece of artwork with some kids and a kite in a local park.

"We have several pieces (of art) in our parks today. We have 'The Gathering,' the mosaic art tile on Fourth and Grand and the bronze 'Our Day in the Sun' statue at the aquatic center," Bredehoeft said. "I'd like to see us support public art in the parks."

In response to Bredehoeft's recommendation, board members approved a motion in support of public art in Spencer's parks at the discretion of the board.

Following a SPACE committee's selection of an artist to do a piece, the place it would be located will be decided. Bredehoeft said the town's parks, library and golf course have been mentioned as possibilities.

Board members also received a Grand Avenue bridge and boulevard enhancement update last night.

"We're hopefully just 30 days away from getting it out to bid. Probably the biggest thing right now is the selection of lights. Hopefully we'll have another meeting either this or next week to get that back on the docket," Bredehoeft said of the boulevard portion expected to occur yet this summer. "And then, working on the art on the plazas on the bridge, I think we're finally moving that ahead. As we get some of those things all put together, we will be coming back here and giving a presentation so you can see what's all going to happen with that project."