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Oshkosh parks board endorses Concept 1 for Lakeshore Drive clear well site
Summary
The Oshkosh Advisory Parks Board voted to recommend Concept 1 for the clear well project at the city water plant site on Lakeshore Drive, citing preservation of green space and tree retention while coordinating with the Water Utility on intake piping and future truck movements.
The Oshkosh Advisory Parks Board on Aug. 11 recommended “Concept 1” for the clear well project at the water treatment plant site along Lakeshore Drive, endorsing the layout that preserves a larger contiguous park space and more existing trees.
The recommendation follows a presentation by Julia (Psyche Design), who outlined two preferred design concepts for the clear well intake and site realignment. “Both concepts… have a 10‑foot multi‑use path,” Julia said, adding the north half of the site is “relatively the same in both concepts” and that Concept 1 preserves more existing trees and all five on‑site memorial trees.
Board members and city staff discussed parking, maintenance, snow management and utility coordination. Parks Department management analyst Tyler Klaver noted the project will be coordinated with the Water Utility and other departments: the city plans to install a new intake pipe under the roadway ahead of major paving so the pipe is in place before future work. “We do wanna get that pipe at least stuck through here prior to that going on,” a city staff speaker said.
Members raised operational concerns: how memorial trees would be handled, whether the roadway would be concrete or asphalt, and how snow removal would be staged around perpendicular parking. Public works staff warned the perpendicular parking “are the areas I see the biggest challenge” for winter plowing and said some parking areas will require equipment beyond a standard plow.
After discussion, a board member moved to recommend Concept 1, and another member seconded. The board took a roll call vote: Amy Davis, Becky Metz, Tim Franz and Steve Herman voted to recommend Concept 1; the motion carried.
The board added a caveat asking staff and Street Department engineers to retain flexibility on the final Washington Avenue geometry to ensure truck turning movements and plant access can be accommodated. Parks staff said they prefer Concept 1 for its larger contiguous green space along the lake but will leave some flexibility to adjust lane widths or intersection geometry based on vehicle‑turning analysis.
Next steps include presenting the preferred concept to other city boards and commissions for input and coordinating construction and utility sequencing so intake piping, storm sewer work and roadway surfacing are aligned to avoid repeated pavement cuts.
