A master plan for Badger Park would pour at least $1.65 million into a historically underserved part of Green Bay’s west side, following the city’s intentions to combat safety issues through hyperlocal investments.
Unanimously endorsed by the city’s Parks Committee on July 15, the proposal outlined a vision for the roughly 5.5-acre plot off Badger Street to become a neighborhood-centric greenspace after residents and the neighborhood association voiced their wants in recent months for a “passive, leisurely park,” according to a memo by Assistant Parks Director James Andersen.
The proposed amenities represented the most interesting aspects of what neighbors said they wanted and some of the most needed facilities in the larger park system, according to Parks Director Dan Ditscheit. They include a 70-by-45-yard soccer field, for which leveling the site would cost $150,000; a $400,000 bike skills course for beginner and intermediate riders, what would be the second in the city, the other being at Baird Creek; a shelter with restrooms estimated to cost $800,000; and a one-third-mile walking path looping around the park’s edge, part of the $100,000 also allocated toward lighting, art and signage.
The existing playground will be replaced by the end of the winter with one bought last fall, according to Ditscheit. He said the current basketball court on the southeast end is worn but still serviceable, and will stay after residents indicated their wishes for a place to play ball.
The plan would also integrate the park into the city’s rotating art program with an art pedestal to go next to the Shawano Avenue-adjacent parking lot, as well as into the regional program to protect pollinators with a suggested stormwater management area to cost $100,000. Architectural and engineering services to bring the plan to life would also cost $100,000.
“I think we really hit the target from what the neighborhood association and the neighborhood as a whole expected out of the master plan,” Ditscheit said.
No money has yet been committed to building out the plan. No timeline to execute it exists either; it was not certain that the proposed amenities would be installed within five years, according to Ditscheit.
If implemented, the plan would be the largest investment in decades into the park that, despite sitting off Shawano Avenue and across from an apartment complex, Ditscheit said some neighbors had no idea existed. The park has not seen significant investment in over 30 years, he said. Dead ash trees make up most of the woods running through the park’s middle. The remainder are undesirable species, like boxelder maple.
The plan would also be the first major infrastructure improvement culminating out of a city initiative to decrease crime and perceived safety risks by boosting neighborly connections in historically disadvantaged neighborhoods, identified by quality-of-life indicators like education data and police reports. The park sits in an area where, according to the U.S. Census, the average family makes about $25,000 less than the county average and poverty rates reach upward of 20%. Several high-profile shootings in recent memory happened blocks away.
Officials have attributed the creation of the city’s 50th neighborhood association, named Badger Tracks, in which Badger Park sits, to its neighbor-centric approach. And with the new neighborhood association came the “appropriate opportunity” to improve the park and develop the master plan with resident input, according to Ditscheit.
The plan has received generally positive feedback at several prior public engagement meetings, according to council member Melinda Eck, whose district encompasses Badger Park.
“I’m all for this,” Eck said.
“It’s a park that the neighborhood definitely would use,” said council member and committee chairman Ben Delie. “It’s much deserving of that neighborhood and I think it would really bring light to that area.”
Jesse Lin is a reporter covering the community of Green Bay and its surroundings, as well as politics in northeastern Wisconsin. He also writes a weekly column answering reader questions about Green Bay. Contact and send him questions at 920-834-4250 or jlin@usatodayco.com.
This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: Proposal would invest over $1 million into underserved Green Bay park
Reporting by Jesse Lin, Green Bay Press-Gazette / Green Bay Press-Gazette
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By Jesse Lin, Green Bay Press-Gazette | USA TODAY Network
