"We’ve spent some time this past week, working with community members, talking to City Council members, and thinking a lot about Tubbs Hill. And we think we’ve discovered a clear, across-the-board, consensus as to what needs to happen. The problem, at this point, is how to make it happen. We’re increasingly of the opinion that considering Tubbs Hill in the McEuen Park context is the wrong approach. Tubbs Hill is different."

That was Terry Harris over at the KEA blog. Last night the Coeur d'Alene City Council approved by a vote of 5-1 to go ahead with a plan to significantly alter the downtown park, McEuen Field, even though there was overwhelming opposition because the plan would remove the baseball fields and the Third Street boat launch.

According to the Spokesman, cost estimates for the plan range from $23 million to $40 million with a two- to three-level parking structure as the most expensive item. Other costs for the plan’s 27 different elements range from $55,000 for a sledding hill to $428,000 for a children’s play area to $2 million for a grand plaza and waterfront promenade.

From the Spokesman:

Councilman Ron Edinger cast the dissenting vote.

“I’ve got a clear conscience. I can get up and look in the mirror and say, ‘Ron, you did one hell of a job,’” Edinger said to wild applause from the crowd, most of whom favored putting the matter to a public vote.

The vote came after a lengthy and heated public hearing that drew as many as 400 people. Thirty minutes into Tuesday’s meeting, dozens of audience members began shaking “public vote” signs and chanting “vote, vote, vote!”

I'm hoping Terry's fears don't come true. That "the unique nature of Tubbs Hill’s problems and solutions will be lost in the noise surrounding the more difficult and expensive projects under the McEuen umbrella." Hard to tell as this mammoth project moves forward.

Full story HERE.

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