South Wichita park doesn’t need a half million dollars more planning. Just do it. | Opinion
Shakin’ my head again today at Wichita City Hall. This time, it’s over the former Clapp Golf Course, again.
On the City Council agenda for Tuesday is an item to spend an additional $530,000 for planning the first phase of what will replace the 65-year-old golf course that was shut down in 2019. That’s in addition to $206,000 already spent on developing the park’s master plan.
The question of the day is, is this really necessary?
Plans for the park have already been scaled down from an ambitious $28 million master plan including a bistro, indoor-outdoor farmer’s market, performance stage, BMX bike track, sports courts and other amenities.
Now, it’s basically about disc golf, open space for walking, a dog park and a children’s playground. There are 14 bridges out there, some serviceable, some old and dangerous.
I’m having a hard time understanding why accomplishing the tasks at hand requires spending another half-million-dollars on someone from out of town with a briefcase.
Funny thing is, the city closed the golf course because it had been losing money for several years (although it was making money at the end). On Tuesday, the City Council might end up spending as much or more on consulting fees than the course was losing.
The improvements currently planned seem pretty simple and should be well within the capabilities of City Hall, without a lot of outside help:
▪ The disc golf course is already there. The city gets $300 a month for the use of the clubhouse by a disc golf entrepreneur who gets to sell equipment, snacks and drinks to players, with access to 95 acres of city parkland for the activity.
▪ Open space? Plenty there already.
▪ A dog park is basically just a fenced-in area with a gate for people to let their dogs run around loose. We’ve done those before.
▪ We have city engineering and public works departments that could decide which bridges are OK, which have to be torn out and which can be repaired at reasonable cost. Since the golf course closed and people don’t need to drive carts from hole to hole, there’s not nearly as much need for bridges anyway.
▪ The only real challenge in this package seems to be the playground, which, to the city’s credit, will be built to modern standards of accessibility for children with disabilities. But even that doesn’t seem like it requires a large consulting cost. Sedgwick County has an inclusive playground in west Wichita the city could model on. Inclusive playground equipment is available and has been installed in parks across America. Not sure why that wheel needs reinventing.
All this planning’s been going on since 2018, when the Park Board voted to close the golf course.
The city contracted with Wichita State University to do “public engagement” on what people wanted out there. Walking paths and trails led the survey, followed by open green space, a playground, a splash pad and a dog park.
We’ve come full-circle to simplicity and the plan for $28 million of major improvements now seems like a time- and money-consuming detour to dreamland that generated impressive drawings but not much else.
If the city can cut its consulting fees, that’s money that can be spent on actual park improvements. And after 4 1/2 years, it’s time to get this project off the drawing board and onto the ground.
South Wichita has waited long enough.
