Quincy looks to improve park

QUINCY — Quincy is seeking money to improve Lauzier Park.

The city wants to add new playground equipment and walking paths to the city’s newest park and is asking the Lauzier Foundation for a $50,000 grant.

The city added tennis courts and a restroom last year.

The cost for improving the park is expected to be roughly $350,000, Quincy Mayor Jim Hemberry said. The city budgeted $175,000 to start.

Hemberry said he hopes ?to create a park accessible for anyone.

One change is new trails. One would be a six-foot wide trail circling the park and two trails would cut across it.

“The idea is, at various points, you’ll have mile markers that tell people how far they’ve walked,” he said. “Then every so often, you’ll put these fitness stations for people to use. They just have small things people can do to exercise.”

The city also plans to make the park accessible to people with special needs, Hemberry said. There would be asphalt extending to the picnic shelter and to the a boundless playground.

“A lot of the communities around us say that they have handicapped accessible playgrounds. What that means is that you can get to them,” he said. “When you get there, you still have to go across bark and when you get there, there is not a lot to do.”

The boundless playgrounds have items accessible to people with disabilities, including ramps on the equipment and a hard rubber base on the ground.

“It truly does provide something for those people with special needs,” he said. “There are none in Washington, Oregon and Idaho. We’d be the first one to put one of these in.”

The city needs $125,000 to pay for the equipment, Hemberry said.

“We’re looking to do that with grant money. When I get done, I’m thinking we may not want to ask (the Lauzier Foundation) for this,” Hemberry said. “We want to ask them for some of the other (items) and we’ll look for some of the other money that’s out there to do something like this.”

The city is also looking to add some toddler playground equipment and three 12 foot by 12 foot and one 24 foot by 40 foot picnic shelters. Along with this, Hemberry said there would be some picnic tables and trees for shade.

The city also plans on adding another parking lot on the west side of the park, which would be twice the size of the lot near the tennis courts. The new lot would cost about $34,000, Hemberry said.

“I realize that’s a lot, but when there (are) soccer games going on, there’s no place to park out here,” he said. “So it’ll be really nice to have this parking area.”

Hemberry estimates the cost to be roughly $350,000.

“Now we budgeted $175,000 to start on this. What I would suggest is that we budget $150,000 and we ask the Lauzier Foundation for $50,000 and then we try to find a grant to do (the) toy up here,” he said.