Civic center board endorses park promenade

Emilie Rusch Journal staff | Posted: Wednesday, April 25, 2012 5:00 am | (0) Comments A proposal for a lighted, landscaped path through Memorial Park that aims to better connect the Rushmore Plaza Civic Center with downtown was endorsed Tuesday by the city facility’s board of directors. Board members voted 5-0 to support the Memorial Park Promenade, which is the latest brainchild of Destination Rapid City, the downtown economic development group. Destination hopes to get city council approval of the project in time to begin construction at the end of the summer, officials said. The group has committed to funding the $1 million to $1.2 million project entirely through private donations. “This would be a nice enhancement,” said Brian Maliske, the civic center’s general manager. Wyss Associates of Rapid City, the project’s designer, and Destination Rapid City president Dan Senftner were at the board meeting Tuesday to make the pitch for support. At the civic center end of the promenade, the focus would be on creating a “visual cue” to pedestrians as they are nearing the civic center, landscape architect Mark Jobman said. The plans include a large entry plaza with tall lighted spires reminiscent of those at Main Street Square and a canopy that wraps all the way around the building to the ice arena entrance. Event posters or something similar would be mounted directly onto the ice arena’s back brick wall. “As you’re walking toward the civic center on the promenade, even though it’s not an entrance into the civic center, we want it to look and feel like an entrance, instead of walking up to a blank wall,” said Pat Wyss, owner of Wyss Associates. Maliske said the civic center had intended to do something more with that wall, but when the ice arena project was rebid to save money, a proposed mural was among the items removed. “Managing the facility, I really like the idea of trying to soften that side,” Maliske said. “It’s pretty stark.” Jobman said they also are open to suggestions for what should be mounted to the civic center wall beneath the canopy. The current design shows program posters. “We’d really like to work with you guys and the board to develop what exactly is on that wall,” Jobman said. The promenade also should remove barriers that are keeping people from making the 10-minute walk between downtown and the civic center in the first place, the designers said. The circuitous trails around the park will be replaced with a 40-foot-wide straight path that runs all the way from Omaha Street to the civic center. Plans also call for new trees and landscaping, as well as seating areas along the path and the existing pedestrian bridge. Improvements are planned for the pedestrian crossing at Sixth and Omaha streets, as well. Lights will be installed both in a center median and along the sides of the path, an important feature for civic center events that let out after dark, Jobman said. “It’s going to provide a safe, comfortable feeling,” he said. During the presentation, board members did have some questions about the cost and ongoing expenses related to the promenade, including electricity and irrigation. But Senftner said Destination Rapid City will cover all of the installation costs for the improvements, including those on the civic center property. They have asked the city Parks & Recreation Department to take responsibility for the ongoing maintenance. “Downtown Rapid City is on a roll. Things are happening,” Wyss said. “The civic center is really part of that.”