MAKEOVER PLANNED FOR WILSON PARK
City to spend $525M on upgrades
Ferndale’s 7.3-acre Wilson Park on the city’s east side is set to be upgraded with new features starting this spring.
City Council members this week approved Decima, LLC to complete construction in the first phase of the park’s makeover. Decima is an engineering and construction firm that also serves clients with construction management, automation and renewable energy functions.
City Manager Joseph Gacioch said the project was expected to start last year, but there was a delay in one of the grants the city is getting to help fund the park improvements.
“About 56 percent of the project is funded by grants we won,” he said. “We’ve heard from quite a few people who were expecting these improvements last year. That’s why we are excited to kick off the improvements in April.”
Total costs for the project are about $525,000, Gacioch added.
Emanuel Johnson, Ferndale’s recreation manager, said in a memo to council members the project’s first phase will include several critical upgrades at the park, including paved walking paths connecting amenities, a new playground, a pavilion, and parking lot repaving and expansion.
The pavilion will also be available for rentals by residents for such things as large family gatherings and all-day events.
Among other new features coming to the park are a strolling garden; a new drinking fountain; park benches with companion seating; trash and recycling bins; and landscaping enhancements such as trees, shrubs and flowers.
Wilson is one of Ferndale’s 14 parks and Gocioch said key amenities there are lacking.
“In its current state, Wilson Park is mostly an open field with older playground equipment, an old basketball court and the city’s dog park,” he said.
The park currently has no sidewalks that connect to the surrounding residential neighborhoods. ADA compliant sidewalks to main areas inside the park are the most expensive upgrade that will be made.
“The park is going to look much different than it does today,” Gacioch said. “It will be much more inclusive and accessible.”
Improvements at Wilson Park were first envisioned several years ago. Since then the costs of installing sidewalks and sidewalk paths have jumped 50 percent, Gacioch added.
That hike in concrete costs meant the city had to eliminate
some other improvements city officials first considered.
The biggest items slashed from the project were connector pathways in the park, a new basketball court and granite gardens to help control ponding of stormwater.
Flooding and standing water has remained a problem at city parks, particularly those on the east side of the city where there is a strata of clay beneath the soil. Granite gardens are used to diffuse and control stormwater runoff through improved drainage.
Improvements at Wilson Park have been part of the city’s parks and recreation master plan for about a decade.
“Coming out of the pandemic funding has been a big challenge,” he said.
The Wilson Park improvements put it in the top three biggest park upgrades in Ferndale. Over the past five years, the city has made the largest investments at Geary Park, which has a newer skate park, and Martin Road Park, which is the largest in the city. The resident-led finance review committee is set to make recommendations for Martin Road Park improvements to the City Council on March 11. The site has been discussed as a possible location for a new community center.