Directors participate in library park workshop

CARBO Landscape Architecture and the city of Siloam Springs took another step toward the realization of park improvements near the library on Tuesday, as members of the Board of Directors participated in a workshop with a presentation team before the regularly scheduled board meeting.

The workshop was a board session, and for that reason there was no public input.

Shannon Blakeman led the CARBO presentation team.

“(This is) sort of a check in,” Blakeman said. “We want to know, are we going in the right direction?”

The landscape firm is currently in the final stages of wrapping up schematic designs, fueled with feedback from public sessions on May 11 and June 22. Those meetings were very well attended, Blakeman said.

“We have had incredible engagement,” Blakeman said. “Kudos to the community, because they’re obviously very involved, very concerned.”

Blakeman gave an overview

of the priorities of the project, which had been determined from public feedback and online feedback. In order from greatest to least, those priorities were the interactive water feature, restrooms, farmers market space, the stage and pavilion, amphitheater seating and finally, a demonstration kitchen.

Blakeman said three frontrunners had emerged for a name for the park. Healing Springs Park, Memorial or Siloam Memorial Park and Sager Creek Park had all earned significant numbers of votes over the public input sessions. Blakeman also said there was a possibility that elements of the park, such as the amphitheater, could be given names as well.

Flexibility is a key value for the proposed park design. Blakeman said that most parts of the park could be used for multiple things, such as the demonstration kitchen which could double as a concession stand.

“We want to get more bang for your buck,” Blakeman said. “We want everything to have a duality.

Blakeman also emphasized accessibility. Despite the slope that dominates the park area, the park will be ADA compliant, thanks to a path that winds across the hill.

The project’s next step is design development after CARBO receives board input. Due to the conceptual nature of the planning thus far, Blakeman said his firm does not have a good estimation of the park’s cost. Even at this stage however, Blakeman said the park would probably have to be built in phases due to cost.

Director Steve Beers asked about the trees in the plan, which would be new. Blakeman said that his team will evaluate the health of the existing trees, and see whether they can fit into the park’s footprint. Director Lucas Roebuck said that the city needed to have a plan to make sure buildings aren’t vandalized or misused, and Director Carol Smiley asked how much maintenance would be required in the park. A CARBO team member said that materials were being chosen that would require little to no maintenance.

The next time city government is scheduled to see plans for the park will be September, when plans will be submitted to the Planning and Zoning Commission. Plans would then be submitted to the Board of Directors in October.