City commission meets to decide future of park

IRONWOOD - The next two months will be crucial in developing a 20-year master plan for the Miners Memorial Heritage Park.

About 25 people gathered Monday evening in the auditorium at the Ironwood Memorial Building to review a preliminary comprehensive plan set up by the Friends of the Miners Memorial Heritage Park.

Paul Kostelnik, president of the FMMHP, said a final plan for the park to be presented to the city commission will be drafted in September and finalized in October. He said a group of 12 to 15 people has been pondering plans for the park.

Many elements of the plan, such as walking and hiking trails, are already in place and events like art-in-the-park have been held there.

"It's a big park," Kostelnik said, spanning a length of 1.5 miles.

With three adjoining baseball or softball fields and skiing and snowshoeing trails also in place, possibilities for the park are extensive, although not all of the sites talked about Monday are owned by the city of Ironwood.

A dog park, picnic areas, horseshoes and lighted trails were other possible uses discussed on Monday.

Of concern are areas of the park that pose hazards in the form of caved-in former mining areas. "The place has to be safe if we're going to send people in there," Kostelnik said.

To that end, Ironwood Community Development Director Michael Brown said the city has $21,000 in a fund to provide fencing around mineshafts and the money might be used yet this year.

The park falls under the city's liability insurance coverage.

Kostelnik said he views the park as a "unique silent sports mecca," but not everyone shared his views Monday.

Paul Grbavcich said since the park is owned by the city, it should serve the interests of all residents of Ironwood, a reference to plan an all-terrain vehicle trail that would run east to west through the park.

Brown noted the city commission has not yet taken a position on the future of the park and ATVs. "It's a tough decision," he said.

Brown noted in a survey of city residents that generated about 300 comments, there was about a 50-50 split on whether there should be motorized use in the park.

A top priority cited in the survey was restrooms.

Thus far, the city commission has tasked the Friends group with obtaining any money that will be necessary for improvements in the park.

"They (FMMHP) understand they have to get funds for the work," Brown said.

Grants and fund-raising are two sources of funding,

Brown said a key concern is how people will access the massive park. Now, the main entry point is at the high school baseball diamond area along Ayer Street, where ski trails are set up.

Kostelnik said the ski trails in the park aren't designed to take away business from ABR and Wolverine Trails, but to serve as training areas or test grounds for skiers.

There were some interesting results from the survey. For example, many who prioritized bike trails in the park didn't want them to be blacktopped, but to remain more rustic.

Ironwood resident Will Andresen suggested developing a "synergy" to connect similar elements in the plan. He said, for example, that horseback riding in the park would tend to get away from the silent sports draw and noted the rise in popularity of mountain biking.

Jackie Powers said the planning process seemed to be getting away from the original intent of the park, which was to create a physical historical memorial to miners and also develop silent sports.

Kostelnik acknowledged that has somehow "got lost in the shuffle" and said it needs to be more of a priority, although the short-term action plan mentions programming that highlights local history.

The city commission will conduct a workshop on the future of the park, tentatively at 4:45 p.m. Monday, before its regular meeting.

Editor's note: Planning documents and the survey analysis are available on Facebook at facebook.com/fmmhp or on the web at fmmhp.wordpress.com.