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Festival used for outreach on high-profile projects

Organizations working on the Highway 61 reconstruction project and the marina beach and Ohuta Park planning effort are using Water Ski Days as a way to gather and share information about the efforts.

WSB, the firm the City of Lake City contracted to help with planning of the beach and park area, will have representatives near the grassy area by the tennis courts from noon to 2 p.m. on Saturday, June 29. They will be interviewing residents and visitors about how and when they use the beach area and what activities they would like to see added, according to Megan Smith, the city’s director of Planning and Community Development.

There will also be a poster board with 26 possible features – an amphitheater, a water feature, food trucks, a fishing pier – and stickers for people to mark the ones they like.

This is the second event attended by the interviewers. The first was a Market by the Lake on Thursday, June 20.

An online tool that allows people to comment on a map of the area and vote on others’ comments can be found at http://wsb.mysocialpinpoint.com/ohuta.

The outreach is evidence of a change in how feedback is gathered for public planning.

“We’re really trying to do things a little bit different this time around. We’re trying to take the project to the people vs. having people come to us (at an open house, for example),” Smith said. “I think this is how community engagement is evolving to get better results.”

Smith said the current timeline for the project calls for concept plans to become available in late July, followed by joint meetings of the City Council and relevant commissions in August, and a final report in late Septbember or early October.

Plans and ideas for the area have been bandied about for for years, but Smith is optimistic about the prospects this time.

“We’re feeling good about this,” she said. “I think we have the ability to just stay focused on this specific area and actually move toward and implementable plan and hopefully get the community and council behind it.”

The Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) will have its own space at Water Ski Days with information about the Highway 61 reconstruction coming in 2020.

Water Ski Days is the second stop for MnDOT District 6’s new parklet, a mobile outdoor gathering space. The first was RochesterFest.

“Parklets are innovative and cost-effective ways to add community space to public streets,” according to the MnDOT webiste. “They serve as streetscape enhancements where people can gather, sit, chat or relax. Parklets can also provide additional outdoor seating for nearby restaurants or places for outdoor programming.”

It will be at the arts and crafts fair in Patton Park for the weekend. It won’t be staffed, but there will be a pamphlet on the Highway 61 reconstruction and information about how to follow the project online and on social media, according to MnDOT spokesperson Cynthia Morgan.

The project website is https://www.dot.state.mn.us/d6/projects/hwy61-lakecity-reconstruct/index....

 

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