APPLETON, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — The city of Appleton is hoping to move forward with its redevelopment plan for Vosters Park to get rid of dead and dying trees. But the efforts haven’t gone unnoticed by neighbors who have brought their concerns forward.
“Their plan and the only bid that they got was to completely take down all the trees, fill it in and plant grass,” Vosters Park neighbor Delanie McGlone said. “My end goal would be that the park is safe.”
The issue, that residents like McGlone had with the city’s first proposal, is it would completely remove the park’s wooded area and boardwalk trail. Concerns were raised at an earlier meeting, causing the city’s parks department to restructure the plan.
“Originally we talked about opening up the idea of saying ‘what do you want your future park to be? Do you want basketball courts and so forth? But the public was very helpful in helping us define what they’d like to see, and that was to reforest the area,” Appleton Parks and Recreation Director Dean Gazza said.
Gazza said the department wants to please as many people as possible. But they still need to ensure safety in Vosters Park.
“The reason the trees are coming down is because the ash borer has taken effect and before long they’ll become dangerous,” Gazza said. “So if we can reforest what’s left, it’ll keep it natural.”
Gazza along with other city officials hosted a follow up meeting Thursday night to present the new design and answer additional questions.
“I feel pretty good,” McGlone said. “I feel like they’re listening to us and trying to find solutions that make sense and try to make everyone happy.”
McGlone wants to see as little change in the park as possible.
“It’s awesome,” McGlone said. “The kids love playing in there. They can use their imagination. There’s a dirt hill park. There’s not a lot of wooded areas in Appleton like it.”
And Gazza agrees.
“We concur with that and so we’re going to share that plan tonight,” Gazza said. “We think they’re going to be pleased with what they see, and we can bring the project forward and get it started this spring yet.”
Gazza says the funding for the project has already been accounted for in the city’s budget. The finance committee will review the latest plan on February 20th. If approved it will then go to the Appleton common council the following Wednesday.
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