Farmin’s Landing PARK TO HIGHLIGHT DOWNTOWN’S HIDDEN ASSET by Trish Gannon
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t can be hard to keep up with the improvements going on in Sandpoint’s city parks. War Memorial Field has been resurfaced, a new grandstand and boat launch has been built, and plans are underway on a water-accessible dog park next door. An amazingly generous donation will be building indoor court facilities at Travers. And now the city has turned its eye towards Farmin’s Landing, currently a bleak, back-door parking and delivery area that nonetheless fronts on one of the city’s greatest assets: Sand Creek. So what lies in wait? The answer is TBD—to be determined—but that determination is now underway, and helping to guide the process is one of the nation’s finest designers of public spaces, Don Stastny. An architect and urban designer as well as an innovator in the design process, he’s considered to be one of the leading design competition managers in North America, with previous work that included memorials on the National Mall in Washington D.C., as well as managing design competitions for the memorials
for the Oklahoma City bombing, and the tragic fate of Flight 93. Stastny is working with a variety of people representing those interested in the development of Farmin’s Landing, including city staff, tribal representatives, downtown businesses, local environmental groups with a focus on maintaining the water quality of Sand Creek, and adjacent property owners to develop the criteria a future designer of the area will have to meet. That criteria needs to include not only public use but stormwater management, parking, and the delivery needs of those businesses. “The goal is to ensure ... the development criteria is aligned with the city vision that is determined by our citizens,” said Jennifer Stapleton, city administrator. “Citizens have communicated that protection of natural resources is a priority, as is access to the lake; our design and focus is to ensure the public owns the waterfront.” With those plans now underway, property owners with their back on the park are looking at building improvements as well. SandpointMagazine.com SANDPOINT M A G A Z I N E
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