A local group’s dreams of adding a splash park to downtown Iola have grown.
The Community Involvement Task Force/PRIDE Committee is seeking the city’s blessing to add a small disc golf course at Meadowbrook Park.
Representatives will be at Monday’s City Council meeting to share their vision.
Chelsey Beasley, one of the CITF/PRIDE officers, said the hope is to have a smaller course than the Elm Creek South disc golf course, with the Meadowbrook site considered more of a “beginner” course, for children or newcomers to the sport.
“We’re still in the baby stages of planning,” Beasley said. “We have some grant opportunities we can seek through Kansas PRIDE.”
Applications for those grants require first receiving the City Council’s endorsement.
In a perfect world, the disc course will supplement CITF/PRIDE’s plans to build a splash park at Meadowbrook, Beasley said.
While they haven’t mapped out site plans, Beasley anticipates the splash park would be immediately south of Buchanan Street, while the disc course would be north of the pickleball courts that lie north of Buchanan and east of Cottonwood Street.
CITF/PRIDE will continue seeking funding for the splash park as well, Beasley noted.
Not to be lost in the shuffle is CITF/PRIDE’s long-sought goal of eventually adding five holes to the Elm Creek South course as well in order to make it an 18-hole course, one of the prerequisites of being able to host tournaments.
Expanding that course, however, likely would involve finding additional space, Beasley noted.
ALSO ON THE agenda for Monday’s meeting is a discussion, at Mayor Steve French’s request, to find permanent warming stations for folks to seek refuge during bitterly cold weather.
Several locations around town, including businesses and churches, opened their doors when temperatures plummeted below zero in late December.
MONDAY’S Council meeting will be at 6 p.m. at the North Community Building at Riverside Park.
