In 2010, after a community
meeting for area youth, it was determined that the kids wanted a swimming pool.
I explained to them that the Little Falls City Council was just presented
with a request from the Pool Committee to build a pool and the Council voted it down. With that in mind, and after
some discussion with the youth, we determined a Splash Pad was the next best
thing. And if we could build a splash pad, maybe we could eventually do a
water park. The Mayors Youth Task Force was formed and the Splash Pad
became a sub-committee with adults and kids who had lots of energy to get
started with their project. Several community events were held to bring
awareness about the project. Members went on-line to educate themselves
and look for information. Companies were interviewed through SKYPE,
visits were made and they started looking for locations within the community
for a site. They needed a large area for parking and expansion and there was just
one spot within City limits to house such a project - the MNDOT property
that was located north of Little Falls. We
contacted MNDOT and found that they were asking $110,000 for the 20 acres of
property. Knowing it would take a lot of car washes to raise that amount
of money, I contacted Senator Gazelka’s office and the Commissioner
of MNDOT, who were able to acquire the land for free. The Little
Falls City Council accepted the land and developed another committee “The
Little Falls Community Recreation Complex Task Force” (LFCRCTF). The
task force was to access the recreational needs in Little Falls, and
develop a recommendation for the City Council. The committee
readily moved forward and came back with a recommendation that included a
splash pad. The Splash Pad Committee started securing grants and working through
budget, design and management issues as well as long-term maintenance
costs. It was at that time Paul and Emily Twitchell read about the plans for
the site and donated $100.000 for a playground, which the council accepted with
the requirements that the playground had to be built at the newly acquired
property.
On February 4,
2013, a proposal and request was made to the Council to approve the splash pad
and skate park and to allow it to be built at the LF Area Recreation Complex.
At that time a motion was made and Mayor/Council passed it. Eleven months
later, at a work session (January 6, 2014) two Council members came back and
said that the vote was vague and didn't count. They also asked staff to once
again re-present costs, design, etc. There was
objection by Gosiak, Doucette, and Mayor VanRisseghem stating the vote was
legal. Council never determined what the legal vote was and claims the project
was never approved. Council did agree to allow the Mayor's Youth Task Force to
move ahead with the playground, but the committee had to pay the City back any
money the City put into the project. Majority of the Council would not allow
City staff to help build the playground (Gosiak, Doucette and VanRisseghem
objected). The Mayor’s Youth Task Force
committed to developing the playground, splash pad, and all-wheel
Park without tax payer’s
money, but were receiving much resistance from several Council members. The
Splash Pad committee had been asking for support for over 4 years, they had just
built a playground totaling over $300,000 without using any city funds. A
building had been gifted to the City for a bathroom, it was rejected by the
Council. A Grants Committee had been
meeting on a regular basis seeking and applying for grants and received
several grants for future projects. The Splash Pad Committee went to
the City and requested, after much research, that a 1/2% Sales Tax be added to
the 2015 ballot for the development of the Little Falls Area Recreation Center.
The Council agreed, but the tax failed by a small margin. Another group, ARC
Boosters (a non city group), had formed and were applying for
non-profit status to do
fundraising and make sure
the ARC continued developing. Sadly, the ARC Boosters never got off the
ground.
The Splash Pad Committee worked with
determination for five years to make the project a reality in Little
Falls. To
date, we do not have approval to build a splash pad or skate park.
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