For a City of roughly 3,600 people, Stanley, Wisconsin has a lot of parks—five of them to be exact. With the necessary aside that city residents in group quarters at the Stanley Correctional Institution can’t exactly access these parks north of the highway without great difficulty, that means there’s effectively one green space for every 400 people or so—but to capitalize on them they need to have the right improvements.

Enter the West Central Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission and associate planner Susan Badtke, who met with the City of Stanley’s Plan Commission to give them an update on the comprehensive plan her firm is putting together for the city. Monday was feedback night. The next report could potentially go to the city council for official approval. So what about the City’s park spaces and their improvement? Much, but first there was park classification to think of.

Badtke’s first action was to make sure that each of the parks was identified correctly. There was Chapman on the east side of the old log pond, Fandry on the west side on the old mill site, Mahr’s Meadow Disc Golf Course across County O from Chapman, Soo Line Park along First Avenue from Broadway to just west of Emery and the old depot, and finally the “Highway 29 exit wayside”—more on that last one in a moment.

As to park classifications, Chapman and Fandry were considered community parks, with their many amenities including a playground, campground, fenced in deer and elk, and ball fields. Meanwhile, Soo Line Park was classed as a ‘neighborhood’ park and Mahr’s Meadow Disc Golf Course along with the Highway 29 exit wayside were both classed as specialized parks, with different uses. Badtke had the details.

“In addition to the comprehensive plan, we’re updating the outdoor rec. plan,” she said, “Hopefully then we can get finished up—get wrapped up—back to you for action, hopefully at your next meeting.” By state statute, any changes have to be in line with the City’s comprehensive plan. So what are some potential changes to the city parks these next few years? Glad you asked. Listed in the draft plan that Badtke presented to the Plan Commission for their input are several potential improvements.

First up and already in the pipeline for plans and recommendations at Chapman Park, was the construction of a new Community Center for $1.5 million over 1-3 years. Also up for recommendation to the Plan Commission was a Pavilion and improved fishing access below the dam at the southern end of the lake, billed to cost $100,000 over 1-3 years. After a new pavilion, there was the recommendation to “maintain existing park features/install new playground equipment and other park features as needed; to cost $50,000 over 1-5 years.

After maintenance comes dredging, with the recommended plan to set aside $250,000 for dredging Chapman Lake, which bottoms out at just nine or so feet presently, deep but not deep enough. A good drought could dry it up, if it wasn’t stream fed. Finally, though, there was creation of a bike trail on an abandoned rail right of way for $50,000 over 3-5 years and the development/ updating of the Chapman Park Master Plan for $5,000 over 3-5 years which rounded out the list of recommendations in the park’s report for the biggest city green space.

Moving across the pond from Chapman to Fandry, recommendations include acquiring an easement from the railroad to expend parking capacity at an estimated cost over 1-3 years of $100,000. Also on the table for consideration in Fandry Park is acquiring an easement from the railroad for trail development around Chapman Lake, for an estimated $25,000 over 1-3 years. A trailhead and kiosk for the projected Chapman Lake trail could also be in the works if plans stay as they’re drafted, set to cost $25,000 over 3-5 years. Next up for Fandry Park would be new playground equipment to cost $50,000 over five or more years, along with installing restrooms for $50,000 over the same time span. Members of the City Plan Commission spent time discussing if this meant pit toilets based on what was considered a low figure for cost. Though not explicitly stated as such, the assumption of pit toilets at Fandry was supported by a figure of $25,000 elsewhere for the same tank-inthe- ground concept, surrounded by privacy walls.

Meanwhile in Soo Line Park the recommendations on the plan were fewer in number but grander in scale, including a trailhead and kiosk or landmark with a historic description of the Soo Line Depot estimated at $75,000 over 3-5 years, plus an estimated price tag of $750,000 to renovate the historic depot station, built after the 1906 fire and closed in 1968 as diminishing traffic meant that passenger rail trains largely gave way to air travel. The old depot is roughly 14 years in on a new roof that was installed through the support of the Stanley Business Association in order to save the building from demolition, as has happened to other City landmarks for different reasons.

As to Mahr’s Meadow Disc Golf Course, the list of improvements include maintain or replacing the message board/kiosk at a cost of $25,000 over 3-5 years, along with installing “pit toilets” for $25,000 and a four-season recreation trail for hiking, biking, snowshoeing, and skiing estimated to cost $50,000 over five or more years. Regarding the disc golf message board, it was said to be faded and partially outdated, meaning that an update to the present is required. Last but not least was the Highway 29 exit wayside, or rather, “the dog park.” It needed clear signage.

“What they do right now is owners let their dogs out and they go right to the boulevard and do their business,” said one Plan Commission member said of canine bathroom habits on South Broadway. If the dog park signage was larger, then owners could do the responsible thing for their unlettered animals and bring them across Sawmill Road to the clearing which straddles both sides of the river, next to the offramp. And while it might take some effort to clear the large amount of tree growth now on the city-owned site, once it was done it would relatively easy to upkeep, similar (though not stated) to areas near the campground which have recently been cleared of brush, these being Woody’s Island”—to go by the signage— along with the old rail spur that could serve an important bike path function in the future, pending developments. Closing out the parks report was an observation by Commission member Rick Denzine on present trends in the human instinct to nurture, shifted from its more traditional outlet.

“People aren’t having kids,” he said. “They have dogs.”— which is perhaps one more reason why developing the “Highway 29 exit wayside” with proper signage could make a boon for the City’s economy.