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West Okoboji Applying For CAT Grant For Terrace Park Beach/Alex Danbom Park Renovations

January 10, 2023 Steve Schwaller

(West Okoboji)– The city of West Okoboji is applying for a $500,000 Community Attraction and Tourism (CAT) Grant through the state of Iowa to help fund a major renovation of Terrace Park Beach and neighboring Alex Danbom Park. The project has a total estimated cost of nearly 2 million dollars. The CAT Grant application requires financial commitments from local governments. Steve Hallgren, a consultant who’s working with the city on the grant application, was at today’s (Tues.) Dickinson County Board of Supervisors meeting, requesting financial support for the project from that entity. He outlined some of the components of the project being done in conjunction with Imagine Iowa Great Lakes…

“The chain link fence will be coming down. It’s going to create a very open and inviting atmosphere. It’s going to have a low seating wall, like seating, with a decorative planter pretty much all along the beach, very similar to what they’ve done on the Lake Street project. So they’re making a lot of tie-ins between all of the Imagine projects.”

Hallgren says improvements are planned for other amenities at the beach as well…

“They’re going to rehab the bathrooms; they’re going to create a nice, shade pergola for like a little picnic area; they’re going to have a little bit of lawn near the beach; and then the city is looking at potentially breaking it into phases. A lot of it is going to depend if the state grant gets funded or not. If the state grant gets funded they’ll probably look at doing most of the project at once, you know. If it doesn’t get funded financially they’re going to have to split it into phase one will be primarily Terrace Park Beach; phase two they’ll move on to the Danbom Memorial Park and do that when funding becomes available.”

A paver crossing going across the street to the beach with special signage would also be included. Increased parking spaces and new playground equipment are among the planned improvements for Alex Danbom Park.

Hallgren adds the current plans call for the project to go out for bid in the spring with construction starting immediately after this coming Labor Day. He says there would be a break over the winter months, with the remaining work getting underway in the following spring, with completion hopefully by Memorial Day, 2024.

The supervisors today (Tues.) voted 5-0 in favor of the county making a one time $10,000 contribution in support of the grant application. The county will not be responsible for the funding should the grant application be denied.

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