HUMBOLDT — A plan to develop a park north of the hospital is closer to reality.
The City of Humboldt released a tender Feb. 1 to recruit a firm to help them do some community consultation and design work for a new park at the northeast corner of 16th Avenue and Highway 20.
“We're looking to have a design and some costing done sometime in early fall so we can be preparing to have that as part of our budget process for 2020,” said Michael Ulriksen, the city’s community and leisure director.
Council approved up to $30,000 for the tender in its 2019 budget.
The city said in the tender document it believes the space is suitable for a toboggan hill, off-leash dog park, senior/midget baseball diamond, playground, walking trails and parking area. One of the tasks of the successful bidder will be to perform measurements and confirm what is possible for the lot, which is estimated to be more than 80,000 square metres.
The deadline to bid for the tender is Feb. 22, the contract will be awarded in early March, public consultations are expected to take place between mid-March and the end of June, an interim report is expected at the beginning of September and the final report is expected at the beginning of October.
After the final report is complete, work will begin to determine how construction would be funded. Ulriksen said the park can’t be fully paid by taxpayer dollars from the city.
“We'll be looking at things like grants, things like sponsorships and other corporate donations as well as just general fundraising within the community,” he said.
“We expect there to be several different amenities up there, which hopefully will have their own group of individuals that are very passionate about them, and then we'll be able to help with some of the fundraising initiatives.”
Ulriksen said the project will hopefully check some of the recreational amenities the community has been wanting for years off the list.
