Urban Renewal Goes Before Public Tuesday Council Will Hold Hearing On Plan That Could Revamp Mceuen Field

Downtown redevelopment and its effect on McEuen Field are topics at a public hearing scheduled before the Coeur d’Alene City Council on Tuesday.

The meeting has been moved to the Coeur d’Alene High School Auditorium, 5530 N. Fourth St., because the council anticipates a large crowd. It begins at 7 p.m.

The City Council will hold an executive session at 6:30 p.m.

The council is poised to adopt an urban renewal plan that calls for, among other things, revamping McEuen Field and the Third Street boat ramp.

Downtown redevelopment advocates argue that the urban renewal plan merely mentions changes at McEuen Field as possibilities. The plan does not mean there will be any changes to the ball fields, picnic grounds and tennis courts, say members of the Lake City Coalition.

But the McEuen Preservation Alliance notes that a consultant’s report, now part of the urban renewal plan, encourages political leaders to have the “courage” to change McEuen. And the plan puts a price tag on that act of courage, the alliance says.

The Third Street boat ramp is the busiest in the state and closing it would put a crimp in lake access, according to some opponents of the renewal plan.

Less than a year ago, Coeur d’Alene businessman Duane Hagadone proposed a library and botanical gardens on McEuen Field and he offered $2 million to get the project rolling. Hagadone also pledged to maintain the gardens, which would have been located just east of his Coeur d’Alene Resort complex.

More than 300 people turned out at a public hearing to oppose changing McEuen; Hagadone soon dropped his offer of help.

, DataTimes