T-R PHOTO BY ROBERT MAHARRY During Monday night’s city council meeting, Parks and Recreation Director Geoff Hubbard presented a scaled down proposal for improvements at Riverview Park, pictured, which would reduce the overall cost of the project from almost $12 million to about $2.5 million.

During a lengthy meeting that ran over 2 ½ hours on Monday night, Marshalltown Parks and Recreation Director Geoff Hubbard provided an update to the city council on the status of improvements at Riverview Park, which he has significantly scaled down from the original proposal that would have cost nearly $12 million.

As Hubbard explained, when the council reviewed the master plan for Riverview, located at the north edge of town along Highway 14, back in 2021, it was believed that the lagoon would need to be expanded to prepare for flooding events at an estimated cost of $2.5 million. The master plan called for renovating the campground, reducing the number of spots from 70 to 44 and making them all full hookups at a cost of $4.6 million, building an amphitheater to serve as a concert venue with a “festival-type atmosphere,” improvements to the dog park and the addition of four pickleball courts.

In 2023, however, Hubbard determined that the lagoon expansion was no longer necessary as the pond on the south side of the park can handle a 100-year flood.

“That got me thinking and talking to other people on the staff. Should we spend $2 million (plus) to build a lagoon if we don’t need to?” he asked.

Hubbard added that there have been conversations about spending $4.6 million on a campground with 44 spots and only charging $50 per night to stay, and with the Green Castle project underway and recent improvements at Timmons Grove in the county, whether the city needed to be involved in the campground business at all. Referencing the proposed amphitheater, he also wondered if Marshalltown would ever host a 10,000 person event, noting that one of the city’s biggest current events, the Harvest Market on 13th Street, usually draws a crowd of around 3,000.

With the Water Plaza project taking shape in the Linn Creek District, Hubbard also mentioned that it could be a better spot for a large festival.

“What our plan is now has changed. We had budgeted $12 million, roughly, over the next fiscal years. Right now, we have currently $2.5 million in an FY24 and a ’22 GO Bond that I would like to scale back the Riverview Park project to do some work to the lagoon. There still needs to be some stuff down on the south end… some other improvements including the bridge there that goes from the Reunion Hall to the community building. It’s a very old, outdated and not very attractive and safe bridge,” he said.

In addition, he would like to repurpose the playground equipment at the Reunion Hall Playground and add some pickleball courts. The overall cost breakdown is as follows.

Bridge — $550,000

Reunion Hall Playground — $600,000

Lagoon Improvements — $600,000

Pickleball Courts — $350,000

Bolton & Menk contract — $250,000

Contingency — $150,000

Hubbard also included the community building playground ($500,000), the dog park shelter and water fountain ($100,000 with the possibility of using Capital Improvement Plan money) and interior road improvements ($2 million) as potential future additions.

Councilor Mike Ladehoff asked if the “loop,” which would connect the gravel road to the tennis court road, would still be included for a major event, and Hubbard said he didn’t feel it would be necessary for the smaller version of the project. Fellow Councilor Jeff Schneider said he still felt that the city needed to invest in Riverview as part of a larger revitalization and redevelopment effort for the north side of town.

“When I was a kid, Riverview Park was pretty awesome. It’s definitely lost its shine. I know a lot of that is due to the derecho, so we definitely do need some investment,” he said. “I think I’d want to see some preliminary drawings of what this new proposal would look like.”

Hubbard said the council could choose between doing the “cool fun thing” like pickleball courts or working on the road that runs into the park, which prompted Ladehoff to comment that he wasn’t a fan of the fast-growing sport and didn’t understand the recent craze around it.

Councilor Greg Nichols said he saw “a lot of shine” in the new park improvements as opposed to simply fixing the road at a similar cost, and Councilor Mark Mitchell asked if the bridge could be sandblasted and painted or would need to be fully replaced.

According to Hubbard, the bridge is “structurally bad” and wasn’t designed up to standards when it was originally built — Ladehoff described it as “junk.” A new bridge like the one at Timber Creek would be more beneficial, Hubbard said.

Councilor Barry Kell agreed with the general sentiment of being realistic about the city’s budget but also wondered why they had pivoted from an “aspirational” project two years ago to about 20 percent of that now.

“I guess I would just challenge ourselves into the future, when we do these type of activities, the amount of resources and time spent by city staff, by our consultants, by public outreach, to basically take this away when we knew it was gonna be a heavy lift all along, we should hold ourselves and be more accountable throughout this process,” Kell said. “Like Councilor Schneider said, this is a legacy location for Marshalltown, a huge amount of investment being done on that northern portion of town, so this is a great opportunity for a significant improvement to our community, reasons for people to come, reasons for people to stay, amenities to go visit. I’m all for making Riverview as best as it can be. I’m a little disappointed that we’re detailing this so quickly, so abruptly after this first being brought up.”

Mitchell added that he liked the plans but also would like to see the northeast side of the community cleaned up to make it more presentable. During the public comment period, Leigh Bauder thanked Hubbard for his efforts to improve the city’s parks in a fiscally responsible way and suggested a round of applause for the director.

Linda Clark highlighted the need for amenities that benefit all residents, including accommodations for those with disabilities, and called for more camping spaces at Riverview. As her comments then shifted back to the previous topic of railroad quiet zones, Mayor Joel Greer cut her off and declared she was not germane to the issue at hand.

No official action was taken on the plan. Hubbard told the T-R he plans to proceed with the smaller $2.5 million version of the project he presented for now unless he is told otherwise in the future. He hopes to put out bids this summer or fall with construction beginning in 2025.

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Contact Robert Maharry at 641-753-6611 ext. 255 or

rmaharry@timesrepublican.com.