City expects to have new downtown park by early fall
Construction costs have caused some last-minute scrambling, but Royal Oak plans to have a new downtown park finished within about six months if the City Commission approves final costs and bids at its next meeting.
The city Downtown Development Authority this week agreed to put up an extra $529,000 for the 2.2acre park that will begin construction after the old city hall and police station buildings are torn down.
The park originally was expected to cost roughly $5 million, but labor and material costs increases caused by shortages during the COVID-19 drove up costs and delayed the project, city officials said.
Nearly all of the park’s funding is from the DDA.
“If the City Commission approves the water feature and a bathroom that pushes the cost up to $6 million,” said City Manager Paul Brake.
Approved designs for the park included a restroom and a pop-up jet area where water sprays in the air for children to play in.
Brake is set to recommend to the City Commission at its meeting March 8 that the city pay $698,536 to include the water feature.
Highlights of the park include green space with a glade and slightly sloping hill, the water feature, canopies with cafe tables and chairs on the library terrace, a small stage, an oak grove and color garden, concrete chess tables, lighting and a butterfly garden
and nature play area for children.
Putting a restroom on the park site would cost another $295,457, but construction of one is likely to be delayed.
City commissioners discussed the cost issues during a recent goal setting meeting.
“We decided the restroom is something we can put off,” said City Commissioner Patricia Paruch, chair of the Downtown Park Task Force that oversaw everything from design work to community engagement on what features downtown visitors want.
However, Paruch added the task force and city commissioners see the water feature as an essential amenity for the park.
“That’s based on the feedback we got back when we were doing the community engagement process,” she said. “But the bathroom is not an essential element.”
Roughly 1,500 residents, visitors and business owners and others filled out surveys on what they wanted to see in the park. A water feature was the most popular amenity respondents favored.
City commissioners are expected to discuss the design change to exclude the restroom feature at Centennial Commons Park at their next meeting.
One option is to include the underground water infrastructure for about $50,000 to service a restroom when it can be funded, said Brake.
He added the restroom, which is a relatively small unisex facility, could also be reconsidered, possibly as a larger stand-alone one near the Farmers Market.
Centennial Park got its name because 2021 will be the city’s 100th anniversary as a city.
The park will have a perimeter path and walkways through the green spaces.
The 40-foot Star Dream sculpture between the old city hall and public library will remain where it is, but the Royal Oak Veterans Memorial plaza will be about 40 feet to the east, closer to
City commissioners are expected to discuss the design change to exclude the restroom feature at Centennial Commons Park at their next meeting.
Troy Street.
Some residents and veterans have objected to moving the memorial since the relocation first came up last year. Volunteers raised about $40,000 to move the memorial in 2006, and the DDA contributed about $107,000 to create the current site with landscaping, pavers, lighting and a granite handicap ramp. Before that, the memorial was on a walkway that jutted out into the former parking lot in front of the library and city hall.
However, the City Commission has already approved moving the memorial. A legal opinion from the city attorney last year said the memorial will still be located within the boundaries of the dedicated space for it.