Dog park gets design go-ahead
The city of Susanville’s program manager Quincy McCourt is pushing harder than ever to fulfill the dreams of a disc golf course, pump track and dog park all at Skyline Park, and it looks like the vision is coming to fruition. All of the proposed projects were given the go-ahead to begin design for construction.
At the Wednesday, Aug. 1 Susanville City Council meeting, McCourt requested the council to allow the city to utilize park dedication funds to design and put together plans for a disc golf course and a pump track for the park, with another request for the dog park to be brought to their future meeting on the Aug. 15.
The entirety of the potential park plans was given a positive reaction from all of the councilmembers. McCourt’s plan centers around the integration of all of the projects and to have them “all play off of each other” at the Skyline Park location, making it a big project with four parts.
The Sustainable Communities Grant public outreach effort created an opportunity for residents to express their ideas regarding destination spots to enhance multimodal transportation within the city.
One of the concepts that received a lot of interest was the construction of a disc golf course at Skyline Park. McCourt presented a report to the city council at the June 20 meeting, with several members of the public in attendance to support a disc golf course.
McCourt, on behalf of city staff, anticipates a cost-effective design can be constructed with an estimated budget of approximately $15,000 for an 18 to 24-hole disc golf course.
Upon completion of the design, the staff will bring back to the council the design for approval and request the funds to begin construction.
However, there are significant volunteer opportunities for community members to participate in the design and construction of the course. McCourt relayed to the council there were several community members expressing interest in providing assistance, and those resources would be factored into the final cost estimate upon design completion.
McCourt told the council Matt McClain, the interagency trail coordinator for Lassen County, was given permission from the county to assist with the design, studying the environmental impacts and maintenance and building of the trails within the area.
McClain told the council he has personally played disc golf and frequents courses in the area whenever he travels; whether it’s in Reno, Chico, Quincy or Carson City.
At the May 4, 2016 council meeting, the council approved the installation of a pump track at Skyline Park. Due to the recent efforts of the Paul Bunyan Connectivity Grant, the Park Land Dedication Fund was brought to light as a means to fund the project.
According to the May 4 meeting, the dirt mounds currently being used for bicycle riding appeared to have been left over from the grading of the parking lot and trail construction. Based on aerial photographs, estimations of when they were put into their configuration were dated to be sometime between 2000 and 2004.
The bicycle riding area covers less than an acre and the newer track does not propose any expansion beyond the area currently being used.
Also at the May 4 meeting were representatives from the Susanville Area Bicycle Association regarding the construction of the pump track.
The pump track plan, according to McCourt’s report, could be constructed at its most affordable design for $10,000.
With the positive affirmation about the park plans from the councilmembers, several residents who attended the meeting asked for the blessing of the council to initiate groups surrounding the park efforts. Those members, until now, hesitated to initiate their groups for fear of putting undue pressure on the council.
One of those residents, Rick Floyd, wished to start a disc golf association to bring overall excitement, momentum, fundraising and organization to the sport in the area, and was elated at the nod from the council. Mimi Rena, the main proponent for a local dog park, was too given the blessing of the council to establish a “Friends of the Dog Park” group.
Who’s picking up all that dog poop? Who was the hippie who came up with this idea?
The whole county is a dog park!