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LeClaire parks department explores its future

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By Mary Louise Speer | Saturday, September 6, 2008 11:16 PM CDT | () comments

LeCLAIRE, Iowa — City officials are exploring ways to improve recreational opportunities to its 3,100 residents without breaking the budget.

“We don’t have the type of recreation we would like to see,” Mayor Robert Scannell said. “Within five-seven years, there might be a few more opportunities for youth.”

The latest challenge is deciding what to do about the leaking roof at the municipal recreation center. City officials will meet with engineers this week to see if the block building can be saved or if the situation calls for spending money to construct a replacement structure.

“We would like to see the recreation center stay open,” Scannell said. “The parks need money right now. But with the city being strapped, the one place where money gets taken away is parks,” Scannell said.

The city has three parks, including Huckleberry Park, an undeveloped facility near 15th Street and Glenwood Drive where city leaders want to put in baseball fields.

The recreation board also has discussed partnering with Scott County and Princeton, Iowa, on a 15-mile recreation trail along U.S. 67. But that $1.6 million project isn’t feasible now with the hundreds of thousands of dollars the city would need to contribute to trail development, Scannell said.

Also, city officials have discussed building an aquatic center, but adding that amenity is years and many dollars away. “Maybe 10 years from now with excess tax increment financing dollars, there might be an opportunity to push that way,” he said.

The city desk can be contacted at (563) 383-2450 or newsroom@qctimes.com.