Parks board reviews five-year capital plan, recommends design funding for Monona Village Park

The Winona Parks and Recreation Board on June 24 reviewed a revised five-year capital plan and voted to recommend that the City Council authorize up to $20,000 for concept design services for the Monona Village Park site, to be paid from TIFF/developer-related funds.

Jake, a parks staff member leading the presentation, told the board the five-year plan compresses items from a recent 10-year review to focus on near-term projects that can be completed with funds already in hand. He said Schaefer Shelter renovations are likely this fall or next winter and recommended shifting funding for the proposed parks garage from parkland dedication fees to general-obligation borrowing so the dedication reserve is not depleted.

The discussion covered a number of park priorities. Staff proposed resurfacing and restriping basketball courts at Naywood and Frostwoods parks, and replacing the aging Firemen’s Park playground (installed in the late 1990s) to address drainage problems that currently require raising the play area elevation; Jake said some large silver maple trees may need removal to make drainage improvements. He also reviewed a list of smaller equipment and maintenance items proposed for 2027 and beyond.

Board members pressed staff on funding sources and timelines. Jake said parkland dedication fees arrive as developers pull building permits and pointed to multiple apartment development phases (North Point phase 2 and a tentative phase 3) that would each add about 55 units and therefore materially affect fee receipts. He estimated the Monona Village/Green Line park could be built at a range of scales — roughly $1 million at a modest level up to $3 million or more for a fuller buildout — and said the concept-design work would show options so the parks board can recommend a preferred scope to the council.

The presentation also flagged the need to update the city’s park and open-space master plan before the end of the year to maintain eligibility for some DNR grants and stewardship funding, and listed pool and community-center maintenance needs that staff expects to move into later years of the plan.

Jake outlined immediate pool items that staff plans to address next year, including a placeholder of $100,000 for leak diagnostics/repairs and work on a small baby pool feature; he told the board the main pool is losing roughly 10,000 gallons per day above typical evaporation and use. He cautioned that some building and parking-lot work depends on decisions about a separate public-safety building and a possible Maywood School acquisition being discussed by the school board.

Why it matters: the board’s recommendations will inform the city’s capital request to the council, which must balance parkland dedication funds, TIFF/developer contributions and proposed general-obligation borrowing against other city capital priorities. The board asked staff to circulate a community needs survey and said the formal capital budget submission will be finalized at an upcoming meeting.

Next steps: the board voted to recommend the Monona Village Park concept-design funding to the council and will review community survey results and a final capital-budget submission at a future meeting.