Chelan Council goes forward with pumptrack project

CHELAN – American Ramp Company will be in charge of developing a concept design for a pumptrack at the Chelan skate park in Don Morse Park as approved by the Chelan Council on May 14.

In a special meeting on April 23, City Administrator Mike Jackson reported to councilmembers the terms of the agreement with American Ramp. “It essentially includes engagement with the community, take a look at our existing site and come up with a design and a cost estimate for the city,” restated Jackson about the agreement. For this project the city has budgeted $8,000 and the services from American Ramp will come in at under $7,500.

In the initial talks about the pumptrack, councilmembers were intrigued about the pumptrack in Leavenworth and wanted to hear more about it. “The consultant thought it cost about $300,000 … the City of Leavenworth donated land,” reported Jackson. Based on the numbers from Leavenworth, Jackson thinks the development of the pumptrack would be around $100,000 or more depending on the design. “Ours might be a lot simpler if we circumnavigate the existing skate park and use that site,” said Jackson.

Councilmembers showed excitement for the project. “I am just really happy for skateboarders. It’s outdoor recreation, active, physical. It’s a wonderful thing,” said Councilwoman Wendy Isenhart.

The kids are also very excited to have an improved skatepark in town. “The kids down there are already drawing their dream skate board ramp area,” said Councilwoman Erin McCardle. Chelan Mayor Mike Cooney mentioned that if the project moves forward he would like to see the community be involved in fundraising efforts.

Councilmembers also approved the services from Prothman consulting firm  to develop a maintenance management plan for Parks and Recreation. “This is something that in the history of the city has been talked about but never accomplished,” said Jackson. He mentioned he wants the plan to be in place before bringing on a new parks director. “We also want to take a hard look at the proposed maintenance building … there’s a lot of room down at public works to store items and you have a lot of flat space. It is easier to put up a building and it is ready to go,” Jackson added. The management plan doesn’t include detailed input on the Municipal Golf Course, just a general overview of it.

Parking always seems to be an issue, especially in downtown. Councilmember Tim Hollingsworth brought up his concerns about a letter that was addressed to all councilmembers on parking in the downtown corridor. “The letter made a very convincing argument for changing the time limit. It was two hours for a long time, it seemed to work out for me,” said Hollingsworth. He brought this up because he wants the council to look into this in order for downtown to remain “vibrant.”

Councilmember McCardle commented on the parking issue. “We never seem to have a goal or a solution. It’s never clear to me what is the problem we are trying to solve. Before moving forward with this complaint, we need to identify what’s our goal,” she said. She suggested to do more data collection to help them understand “true patterns in downtown and then make an educated decision.”

Chelan City Council will meet on May 28 for a regular meeting starting at 6:00 p.m.