Entryway monuments will welcome visitors
POST FALLS – Visitors to Post Falls will soon be greeted by water flowing over a 16-foot high by 18-foot wide water feature near the on- and off-ramps of Interstate 90.
Huge cranes recently stopped traffic on Spokane Street as contractors lowered the base of the first monument – a 7,000-pound piece of concrete.
The water features are designed to look like water flowing over a dam with a stylized river scene and the words “Post Falls – Idaho’s River City” etched on the face. The top is replicated to look like the old one-way bridge near Falls Park on the Spokane River. Landscaping, including trees, shrubs and boulders, will complete the projects once the three-tiered concrete structures are in place.
The entryway monuments are the result of a request Mayor Clay Larkin made to members of the Planning and Zoning Commission more than 2 1/2 years ago. “The mayor asked us to make town look a little better and stand out a little bit,” said commission member Linda Wilhelm, who became committee chairwoman.
Donations, including $25,000 each from both the Schneidmiller Family Foundation and the Post Falls Urban Renewal Agency, enabled the group to raise the funds to pay for these first two monuments, which are scheduled for completion by June. The committee expects to erect similar entryway water features at other city entrances such as Greensferry and Pleasant View as funds are raised.
“A monument featuring water had been envisioned by the group, but, things really came together when Gary Young, a former city planner and landscape architect, joined the committee,” Wilhelm said. Young had the idea to link the history of the Post Falls Dam to the new water feature and came up with the plan to include design elements of the old bridge to a dam-like waterfall.
“Once the plan was in place, others stepped in to help, just when they were needed,” Wilhelm said.
Many companies and individuals donated labor and materials, including Jody Bardon of North Idaho Pump, Dwight Bershaw of Clearwater Summit Group, Straight Line Crane, Northwest Mechanical Engineering, Evan Ferguson Concrete, United Electric, C&K Roofing, Anderson Iron Works, Tumblestone and Alamo Excavation.
Wilhelm is looking for members of the public to donate toward landscaping materials. She suggested those who would like to help should call her, donate toward a specific plant, and then plant it themselves on a soon-to-be-announced planting day.
“We want people to feel like it is their monument,” she added.