Wagner residents work to build park

WAGNER — It may be more than five years before the fruits of their efforts appear, but residents in the Wagner area are working to construct what could become the city’s newest park.

The potential park, part of a 20-year Wagner Comprehensive Plan composed by city officials, could house a facility for outdoor concerts and other events, said Monica Wepking, president of the Wagner Rotary Club.

Wepking said the club is hoping to contribute funds to make the park a reality.

“One thing that the community doesn’t have is an amphitheater or a band shell,” Wepking said. “We would like something like that where we could hold cultural activities.”

If constructed, the park would be located in the southwestern portion of the city near a water tower constructed in 2008. The final size of the park, however, will depend on a number of factors.

First, only half of the desired four acres of the land is owned by the city, said Matt Cerny, Wagner economic development director. The remaining approximately two acres belong to the Church of Latter-day Saints.

Cerny said he’s working with the church to obtain the land. Ideally, he said, the church would donate the land, but no agreement has been reached.

If an agreement doesn’t come to fruition, the approximately two acres of land owned by the city would be rezoned from agricultural to public/semi-public use, paving the way for a picnic area that would cost between $5,000 to $10,000. With the church’s land, Cerny estimates approximately $30,000 to $40,000 could be spent, providing a potential location for powwows and other events.

Given that the process is in the very initial stages, it’s hard to know exactly what will result of the efforts to create the park, Cerny said.

The city has a park along Highway 50 and another along the shores of Wagner Lake.

Placing a park on the southwestern portion of town would allow greater access for some Wagner residents, said Eric Ambroson, District III Planning.

“The comprehensive plan shows that there was probably a gap in the level of service,” Ambroson said. “This is one way to fill that gap.”

Ambroson plans to develop and present a model design of the potential park to the Wagner City Council in February. He hopes his presentation will lead the council to approve development of the project.

“Parks are kind of the lungs of the city,” Ambroson said. “It gives people a place to go and … take a break and congregate. Those kinds of things are important.”

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