Splash pad proposed as part of new riverfront design

QUINCY — The Quincy Riverfront Development Corporation could have a new strategy for using a $350,000 state capital grant.

At Wednesday’s meeting, city director of planning and development Chuck Bevelheimer proposed an interactive splash pad on the riverfront near the location of the sludge dome slated for demolition.

“The concept of a splash pad has been flushed out as a good concept,” Bevelheimer said. “We know that it can be fairly expensive, but we also know the expenses can be fairly reasonable if you do it in modules.”

Both Bevelheimer and committee president Tieraney Craig said the original plan was to use the capital grant to fund the demolition project, but the grant money must be spent all at once. Instead of using that grant money for the demolition project, the board approved a motion to use utility funds for the demolition project — which will cost $143,413 — freeing up the capital grant money to be used for a splash pad or other interactive attraction on the riverfront.

“It definitely makes it easier,” Craig said. “I know the city was going to take that (dome) down anyway. Having that full $350,000 and being able to use it for an interactive splash pad or something else is nice.”

Since this splash pad was not part of the original Riverfront Master Plan, there were mixed feelings around the table when Bevelheimer first proposed the concept. While no one was opposed to the idea of a splash pad or something similar, questions stemmed largely from potential public perception if the corporation were to amend the master plan as well as simply spending the grant money to say they spent it. However, the corporation is in danger of losing that grant money if they don’t spend it soon.

“I think the committee members were lukewarm at the idea,” Bevelheimer said. “As the discussion progressed, I think they got more comfortable with it, but with that said, they have questions, which is only reasonable to expect because staff has been pushing this idea back and forth trying to figure out what is feasible to do with the $350,000 we have.”

Because of the changes this splash pad would cause to the plan and use of grant money, Bevelheimer and his team will return to next month’s meeting with a “schematic, conceptual idea showing how it would fit the south end of the master plan area” and how it would fit into the plan for an interactive play area.

“We’re not sure if we’re going to switch that interactive play area out to be the splash pad or not, but that’s what the committee wants us to come back with at their meeting in September,” Bevelheimer said.

Craig described the specifics of what they would like to see at the next meeting.

“We don’t need another Washington Park splash pad,” Craig said. “We want something different, so what does different look like? Is it highlighting our history? Is it just some more interactive features than what we have? Just not recreating the wheel and duplicating what we have.”

Craig said the corporation wants to stay as true to the master plan as possible when considering the idea of a splash pad.

“In the plans now, there is a family area that’s an interactive play area,” Craig said. “In the plan, it was designed to have some historic notes to it about how Quincy came into existence. We want to honor that. We don’t want it to be just any sort of splash pad that has no tie to the plan.”

Whatever course of action the corporation takes, Craig hopes the riverfront can become a prime destination in Quincy.

“The riverfront is so underutilized,” Craig said. “There are so many other riverfront towns that have so much more than what we have. I really would like to see Quincy utilize this gem we have literally at our front door.”

In other business, the board approved Craig’s letter of support for the establishment of a River’s Edge Development Zone.

“The city was fortunate enough to be included in legislation to be allowed to establish a River’s Edge Development Zone,” Bevelheimer said. “To do that, we have to submit an application. I asked the Riverfront Development Corp. to submit a letter of support as part of that application that will go to the Department of Commerce when that application gets submitted in a couple months.”

Bevelheimer explained how this zone would benefit the city.

“The important aspect of that is that it opens up the city and property owners to be eligible for historic preservation tax credits, which could be a game-changer for renovating old buildings,” Bevelheimer said.

After the meeting, Craig addressed questions surrounding the Adams County Board pulling back the $200,000 in American Rescue Plan Act funding that was to be used to help bury above-ground Ameren power lines near Clat Adams Park.

“It’s definitely given us a hurdle to jump now,” Craig said. “If we had laid that foundation — we talk about the interactive splash pad, if we had that foundation raised, then it’s not a big deal to throw down that splash pad where it’s supposed to be. Now, the flood plain is lower in some areas, so you don’t want to put things down that are essentially going to be flooded rather quickly. Because we didn’t do that, it’s trying to find projects that are on the ground that are higher down here.”