Park plans revealed

Mark Jobman presented the Watson/City Park Master Plan to the Keystone Town Board at its Aug. 2 meeting. The plan has been worked on since March.

Jobman looked at the history of the park and its future usage for both tourists and locals. Jobman said cleaning up the softball field would make it a greater asset to the park. Two youth soccer fields would be created  as well. 

Currently where there is one basketball court and one tennis court in the park Jobman wants to create one multi-court system. The plan also calls for a continuing pedestrian trail system in that area to access Battle Creek. South of that would be a seating area to welcome people into the trail system. A sand volleyball court would also be installed.

In between the courts and softball fields an up to date playground would be installed with a patio area for parents.

A concession stand and  a memorial park area with native plants would round out that side of the city park

Crossing the pedestrian bridge into Watson Park there  would be a staging area to host musical events, a barbeque space with outdoor kitchen space and bathrooms.

An eight-foot-tall  bouldering wall similar to the one in Jackson Hole, Wyo., and a sledding hill with a berm would also be installed.

The existing parking area will be removed allowing there to be one big green area while also creating “more parking than you have today,”according to Jobman.

The rest of the green space could be used as an additional soccer field or a dog park. It’s a 98 percent complete plan and will be on file with the city.

Jobman says the plan would make the park “very different from anything else in the Black Hills.”

There are 22 plus projects the park board has identified with Jobman.

“Twenty two projects gives you something to kind of check off the list,” he said.

The master plan costs $6,500 to complete.

The Harney Street Lot was again a source of contention during the meeting. Public works has planted trees on the lot. However when Jerry Przybylski, supervisor of public works reported to the board that   a delivery of  asphalt to the storage lot on Harney Street wouldn’t be able to occur until after Aug. 21. Trustee Matt Fullilove questioned why the asphalt was being delivered to Harney lot in the first place.

“There’s been a lot of discussion that has not happened about Harney Street,” said Fullilove.

Przybylski  said he was doing what he was told by the board.

President Sandi Mclain said the board looked at  trustee Will Parks’ plan in directing public works, however Fulliove said no vote was taken on the park’s plan.

Fullilove motioned to table the matter to determine whether a vote on Parks’ plan had actually occurred. That motion failed.

“We have not addressed the concerns of those concerned citizens. They have been waiting,” said Fullilove. Fullilove later walked out of the meeting, saying the board only needed three people to run the town and that the whole Harney lot discussion had been “subverted.”

Public works is working on a railing on Winter Street for the curb to prevent falls.

“There’s been a lot of people toppling off there,” Przybylski said. McLain said it’s Department of Transportation property but that the city needs to maintain it.

Trustees met Michael  Schlumpberger from Midwest Lithium. All concerns about the exploration need to be addressed with Pennington County since  the lithium exploration is being done outside of city limits 

“We have no control over that at all,” said McLain.

The board approved an agreement with AE2S to start the permitting process for bridge sediment removal.  The overall cost of the engineering plans are $34,110 but the city received a $10,000 grant towards this. The project is expected to cost upwards of $20,000.

“If we wait until winter they might not be able to dig,” said McLain. “I don’t think we have any other option then to move forward and do this one bridge.”

Trustee Casey McNulty questioned spending money that didn’t exist, although he was not opposed to it.