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Local Rotary clubs will provide the money and manpower to install a swing so kids in wheelchairs can enjoy Kidtown playground at Beachfront Park.

The Del Norte Sunrise and Crescent City Rotary clubs plans to use Rotary International dollars and matching funds to make upgrades to Kidtown, Crescent City Manager Eric Wier told City Councilors on Monday.

In addition to unanimously accepting the Rotary clubs’ grant for the wheelchair swing at Kidtown, the Crescent City Council also accepted a $25,000 California Endowment Grant and authorized the city to pursue funding from the California Coastal Commission, both for Beachfront Park.

The California Endowment grant will pay for public outreach.

The second grant is for $90,000 from the California Coastal Conservancy to hire a consultant to develop a new Beachfront Park master plan. This plan will reflect changes in community needs and priorities since the previous master plan was adopted in 2013, according to the city’s staff report.

The City Council’s approval on the Rotary clubs’ Kidtown project and two grant applications comes as it’s gathering public input on potential projects at Beachfront Park. The public outreach is necessary for the city to receive a non-competitive $200,000 in Proposition 68 dollars for a big project or combination of projects at the park.

“It will put us in a very good position for future Prop 68 grant funding,” Public Works Director Jon Olson said of the updated Beachfront Park master plan.

The local Rotary clubs agreed to donate a total of $9,600 for the wheelchair swing, Wier said. The donation will also be used to make needed repairs to the playground itself. This includes giving the wooden structure a much-needed paint job and repairing existing equipment, he said.

“The project will be implemented to the way Kidtown was constructed, by the community,” Wier said. “The Rotary club will donate the money and time. We’re setting up a day… that would be a day to install this (swing) and redo the rest of Kidtown.”

Public Works Manager Jason Wiley said Rotary representatives asked city staff what Kidtown needed the most. He said he and Holly Wendt, the city’s new recreation director, came up with the idea of a swing for children in wheelchairs.

“The thought came up that you see children that are bound by wheelchairs and have no access to the park,” Wiley said. “There’s been times over the years, you see them at the gazebo sitting out there and they have nowhere to go. It tugs at your heart a little bit.”

Wiley said he, Wier and Public Works Director Jon Olson investigated where the best place for a swing would be. He said one of the options is close to the parking lot and restrooms. Some of the larger costs for the project would be for rubber matting for a wheelchair-accessible pathway to the swing, Wiley said.

Wiley said installing about 50 to 60 feet of 6-foot wide rubber matting for a wheelchair-accessible pathway would cost about $4,000.

Wiley said he received positive feedback when he spoke with people in the community about the wheelchair swing.

“I actually engaged a group, one of the organizations that help handicap children, kids bound by wheelchairs, and just even suggesting the idea, they lit up,” Wiley said. “They’re really excited about it.”

When the discussion turned to updating the Beachfront Park master plan, Linda Leaver, the city’s finance director, said Proposition 68, a $4 billion general obligation bond California voters approved in 2018, requires extensive public outreach.

Staff’s recommendation was to use $20,000 from the California Endowment to focus on Beachfront Park, Leaver said. The remaining $5,000 will wrap up the public outreach on a master plan for the Fred Endert Municipal Pool, she said.

“During that project we brought in a consultant to train city staff to do interviews with members of the community — how do people feel about the pool? What they use the pool for? Or if not, why not?” Leaver said. “We’d like to do something similar with the Beachfront Park master plan update.”

The second part of that discussion involved a grant application to the California Coastal Conservancy for $90,000. If approved, this would pay for a consultant that would help the city update its Beachfront Park master plan.

Addressing concerns about an updated master plan’s “shelf life,” Crescent City Mayor Blake Inscore said in 2012 and 2013, though the City Council adopted its master plan funding wasn’t available to build out many of the amenities at the park.

Since then, however, several projects have been completed including Crescent City Dogtown and improved beach access via Stamps Way and Howe Drive West.

According to Inscore, Proposition 68 is offering more than $8 million in funding for community parks.

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