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Mar 02

McEuen Park Design Concept

Downtown Coeur d’Alene has enjoyed the open areas of McEuen Park, the ball fields and Tubbs Hill and hosted the areas youth sports for decades.  The city council has presented a dynamic master plan, that allows the park to evolve into a destination park, with compelling and memorable features.  It’s a mega plan that they state will serve the greatest number of uses for the greatest number of people, of all ages and abilities, throughout all seasons; stimulating economic benefits to the community; supporting regional events; and recognizing the legacy of the McEuen Field area.  

The plan involves tennis courts, bocce ball, pavilion, gardens, fenced dog park, childrens play area, plazas, many water features and more.  Some people say they are not happy about the plan to close the Third Street boat launch. The city council stated that has been the plan for years.

Wondering, during times like these why does the city have a costly park revamp on their agenda?

3 comments

  1. Rita Sims-Snyder

    The McEuen plan process seems to be backwards. Tax dollars spent on a “conceptual” plan but no budget or costs as yet disclosed? Were the boat launch users, Friends of Tubbs Hill, baseball players, business owners, downtown merchants or tax payers asked what was importnat to preserve in the park? Inquiring minds want to know…. how much should be or will be spent on updating this single park? Who will make that final decision? The city council or the voters? Personally I think we have many more important issues and areas of need than a costly mega-park. McEuen is a gem….polish it….don’t demolish it.

    1. Jimmy

      I’ve long advocated hnavig a parking structure a few streets further north from Front. Personally, I think a location on the block defined by 3rd, 4th, Coeur d’Alene, and Lakeside would be ideal, or even a block north of that (defined by 3rd, 4th, Indiana, and Coeur d’Alene. A parking structure can be a multi-use facility including shop space for new businesses in the area, and it would encourage foot traffic through downtown to McEuen and Tubbs Hill, increasing walk-bys of existing local businesses. It’s only 3 blocks away from the Post Office, 3 blocks away from City Park, and 4 blocks away from the Coeur d’Alene Resort. Only about 1/3 mile. In addition to encouraging foot traffic through the downtown area and serving as additional merchant space, a parking structure at one of these locations would likely ease traffic woes, especially on event nights. If any of you has been to watch the Holiday Parade or 4th of July fireworks, you know how bad traffic can be. Now imagine cramming 954 more cars (current parking is 480) into the area right next to McEuen and Tubbs. It would be an absolute nightmare getting out of that very congested area on an event night. I definitely support a new parking structure in the downtown area, even if it is the underground one proposed in the McEuen plan. Parking downtown right now is bad already, and definitely needs to be expanded. But I too believe a better solution would be building a structure north of Sherman.

  2. Oscar

    As we wrote previously, we eivbele the Tubbs Hill experience should be accessible to people of all abilities, but perhaps such accessibility should be part of an overall strategy for Tubbs Hill, not McEuen Park.a0 The Americans with Disabilities Act landmark civil rights legislation requires very specific accessibility design and performance standards for new and substantially improved trails, specifying such things as the trail’s width, slope, surface, headroom, passing room, and obstructions. Such standards will be expensive and difficult to implement on Tubbs Hill in the manner and location suggested by Team McEuen without significant construction activity and risk of harm to the overall visual experience. There are other, and much better, accessibility possibilities for Tubbs Hill worth exploring first.

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