Council adopts Rathdrum parks plan

RATHDRUM, Idaho – Recognizing that parks, pathways and recreation facilities add to the attractiveness and livability of a community, the city of Rathdrum has completed a master parks plan.

Recently adopted by the City Council, the plan is a detailed report that has been three years in the making, including a great deal of public input.

“This plan gives us direction as staff and will open doors for the community to pursue grants, something we haven’t been able to do much of in the past,” said Lance Bridges, Rathdrum’s parks and recreation director.

“We will be able to show the council and others exactly what our needs are as our community grows. We will know how much park area we need, what facilities are required and how to develop bikeways and pathways to enable our kids to get to park and recreation facilities safely,” he said.

The 78-page plan assesses Rathdrum’s park and recreation facilities. It includes recommendations for improvements, outlines future needs and goals and includes a long-range improvement plan.

“It’s such an enhanced study because we did a lot of inventory of the parks,” Bridges said. “We looked at what we have currently in our parks, the condition of the parks and as we grow, where new parks will be located.”

Similar to a comprehensive plan, the document is meant to be reviewed on a regular basis and is expected to undergo changes as the community expands and evolves. “We will take a look at it to see: Is this the direction we want to go? It will adjust and mold to what will fit our needs,” Bridges said.

The analysis of Rathdrum’s park and recreation facilities showed services to be adequate for most neighborhoods.

Using National Recreation and Park Association level-of-service guidelines of five acres per 1,000 people, the park amenities were determined to provide very good and overlapping coverage for the large majority of Rathdrum’s population. Bikeways and pathways linking residents to these facilities also were determined to be adequate.

The facilities surveyed included one minipark (Roth Park); three neighborhood parks; one community park, which serves a larger area of residents; one special-use park (skateboard park); and the use of four tennis courts in partnership with Lakeland High School.

City Park, John Brown Playfield and Thayer Park are designated as neighborhood parks due to their size. While John Brown Playfield offers a baseball field near the center of town and Thayer Park offers a soccer field in the southwest part of the city, City Park is considered to be Rathdrum’s “signature” park with its 100-year history, creek, monuments and memorials and amenities including a gazebo and playground area.

The city’s only community park, Stub Myers Park, also is its largest at 8.2 acres. Amenities include a playground, horseshoe pits and a recreational complex that includes three baseball fields, a soccer field, a basketball court and a volleyball court.

In addition to the analysis of current parks, an important part of the plan was to identify potential park and recreation sites.

One potential park site, Majestic Park (named for a nearby street), is in the southeastern corner of the city. It is expected that this small piece of city-owned property will grow as residential subdivisions dedicate adjoining property.

A second potential site, Heritage Park, is in the center of town and includes natural wooded trails and an area that could become a cultural center for the downtown area.

No design or implementation plans exist for either park now.

The Rathdrum master parks plan also identified the 577 acres of city-owned forested land on the south side of Rathdrum Mountain as a conservation site, an important source of open space conservation. The city follows a forest-management program on this property, but the possibility of future low-impact or nature-type activities that do not compromise the environment was noted.

As a final step in addressing Rathdrum’s park revitalization and growth concerns, both five-year (2007-2011) and longer-range (2012-2026) capital improvement plans were included.

“It gives us direction and helps us set up our yearly budget to figure out what improvements we can make each year,” Bridges said.

Many longer-range parks and recreation capital improvements mentioned in the report would be funded through impact fees.

Copies of the plan can be downloaded from the city’s Web site at www.rathdrum.org, or stop by the Parks and Recreation Department’s new building on Main Street to take a look at a copy.