Changing Manito Design Plans Are Being Finalized For Park Improvements To Be Made This Fall

The Grand Boulevard entrance and duck pond at Manito Park should look radically different by this fall.

Spokane city parks officials are working with the public to finalize the design on about $600,000 worth of improvements to the north end of the park.

It is one of the major pieces in the $15 million park improvement bond approved by voters last September.

“I think, overall, it’s needed,” said Dave Godlewski of the Manito/Cannon Hill Neighborhood Council.

At a public meeting at Wilson Elementary School last week, a large majority of those who attended indicated support, he said.

Some suggestions for fine-tuning the project came up, and parks officials said they will seriously consider the ideas.

At an earlier public meeting at Sacajawea Middle School, only a small crowd showed up, and there were virtually no objections.

Parks officials said the project will make the north end of Manito Park safer and do a better job of accommodating visitors on busy days.

The plan will:

Close off Tekoa Street at 18th Avenue, eliminating its use as a commuter shortcut. That is the strip of pavement along the northeast side of the duck pond.

Add a 71-vehicle parking lot in the meadow next to the Grand Boulevard entrance and a smaller lot with 14 spaces next to the duck pond.

Increase the width and number of walkways and make the area accessible to handicapped people.

Eliminate a small triangular section of Shoshone Avenue next to the restrooms at the duck pond and reclaim it for park lawn.

Plant more than 50 new trees.

The parking lot construction will require logging two large trees, including a willow tree some 30 inches in diameter. Six other trees would be removed, but seven smaller trees would be replanted.

All of the changes were outlined in a master plan for Manito Park approved by the city in 1995.

Parks officials said the current layout is not as safe as it should be. Pedestrians, handicapped people and people moving to and from their parked cars are not sufficiently protected from moving traffic.

“This is the queen park. It’s got to be safe for visitors,” said James Gibson, construction manager. “The park, as it exists today, doesn’t do anything for handicapped people,” he said.

The addition of sidewalks, curbs and crosswalks will give pedestrians their own space. Also, the main parking lot will have an island separating it from the entrance.

Gibson said the designers carefully measured the park and compared it with the proposed changes.

They discovered that the addition of parking areas and sidewalks will increase the amount of pavement in lower Manito by about 5 percent.

The lower Manito area has about 400,000 square feet of green space and pond now. After the project is done, that amount would fall to about 380,000 square feet of green space.

Most of the loss in green space will be for sidewalks. The plan adds about 16,000 square feet of concrete for walkways and curbs.

The removal of the Tekoa connection and a section of Shoshone Avenue will cause more park green space to be created.

“You give a little and you take a little,” Gibson said. “This is such a visited area and such a popular area people are going to come no matter what you do.”

On top of that, the proposal calls for adding 58 new trees, particularly around the parking areas.

The heart of the plan is a new traffic circle that would slow traffic at the duck pond. The circle would connect with the main parking lot. It would have a planter in the center.

The main lot would be built in a low-lying section of lawn that old photographs show was once a stream outlet for the pond. Now it is too soft and wet for use during much of the season.

There would also be eight slots for bus parking separate from the main parking lots. Each of the lots would have handicapped slots and ramps.

At the northeast entrance, a new right-turn lane would allow vehicles headed south a quick exit.

David Evans and Associates Inc. of Spokane was hired for the design work.

Gibson said he wants to put the project out for bid this July and start work after Labor Day. He expects completion sometime during the fall.

The project also includes repaving the parking areas at the Park Bench cafe, Rose Hill and Japanese Garden.

At last week’s meeting, residents asked for an additional sidewalk that could carry pedestrians and bicycles between Division and Tekoa.

They also requested speed bumps to slow traffic on Shoshone between the duck pond and Japanese Garden.

Gibson said what complaints he has heard revolve around traffic issues. Neighbors want to slow the traffic through the area.

Godlewski said most people agree the lower Manito area needs improvements.

“Change is hard, especially when it affects something as close to people’s hearts as Manito,” he said.

Graphic: Improving Manito Park