Members of the public at the Parks Commission’s regular April 20 meeting implored commissioners to repair the wall at Cave Spring that has long fallen into disrepair and collapsed. Four of five public comments lamented the lack of repair to the Cave Spring wall over the years
On March 17 the HDC approved the plans to repair the wall at Cave Spring. Chair Kevin Ruehle said he had been the one to request that Interim-Director Scott Miskiel not spend money on the wall due to three other “major infrastructure projects,” including repair of the Lake Leatherwood Dam railing that he estimated at around half a million dollars, retaining walls and settlement of the plaza at Basin Park, and rebuilding Magnetic Spring Park’s basin.
He said that Miskiel was searching for grants to help the commission move forward on repairs but that it may be years before everything is addressed.
Geotech work and tree cuttings
Miskiel explained that before a proper foundation for Basin Park could be created, core samples of the soil would need to be taken and Parks has been in discussion with a company for Geotechnical services. Miskiel said the contract is for $2,450 with the possibility of it being closer to $3,000 as the company would not know the cost of certain items until they were on site.
Ruehle explained that Basin Park was originally at street level before being raised at the end of the 1800s, and the plaza sits on fill. A limestone tunnel was built to control seasonal flow and that tunnel is collapsing causing the fill to be washed out. That washout is causing the fountain to sink as well. He said that core samples will help determine the extent of the work needing to be done.
Commissioner Scott Bardin made the motion to approve geotechnical services with commissioner Dave Hartmann seconding which moved to discussion. Ruehle explained that the base cost of $2,450 would cover five borings and that any further costs are “per diem” amounts if the engineer requests further work done. The work is expected to take one day.
The motion to approve was unanimous.
Miskiel went over problematic trees, including a rotted pine tree in Harmon Park, a tall Black Gum over Basin Park that is rotted and another on Spring Street that is hanging over a residence. He said there are other trees that in the future, especially in Basin Park, that will become an issue due to their location along the bluff edge and how they lean.
“What we hope to do is to come up with a more comprehensive assessment and plan for how we are going to deal with trees that are in that sort of situation,” Miskiel said. He added that arborist Chris Fischer would be available to assist in that project.
Ruehle was comfortable with the cutting of the tree over Spring Street and Harmon Park but wanted to wait on Basin Park due to it needing to be removed by crane, thus more expensive. Miskiel said he could get information on what it would cost as bids were only made for the tree in Basin Park. No action was taken, Ruehle saying they would hold a special meeting later to approve tree removals once full cost was known.
Final items
- Trails committee had Glenda Moore saying that there needed to be more pedestrian only trails. David Renko acknowledged this and floated the idea of making Fuller and Fisher trail pedestrian only in the future.
- Parks first quarter financials were approved.
- Bardin made the motion to approve new park fees including a ten percent increase in cabin and camping rental fees. Commissioner Ruth Hager seconded with unanimous approval.
- The final public comment was by Chris Fischer who detailed his project continuing to develop the Eureka Springs Linear Arboretum. The project aims to identify and catalog significant trees within ES city limits and map them for public use in the creation of educational programming about the impact of those trees.