Appleton will develop Ellen Kort Peace Park in phases
Duke Behnke, Appleton Post-CrescentPublished 5:31 p.m. CT Sept. 21, 2018
The master plan for Ellen Kort Peace Park in Appleton calls for two gathering lawns, a peace ring, sculptures, a peace pole, poet’s garden, butterfly garden gazebo and a pavilion with restrooms. (photo: Courtesy of Appleton)
Question: What's the status of Ellen Kort Peace Park in Appleton? That area has sat vacant for way too long.
Answer: People anxious to use the riverfront park should see grading and trail work occur next year, but the park's amenities won't be built until 2021, according to current plans.
Appleton spent $25,000 in 2017 to develop a master plan for Ellen Kort Peace Park. It budgeted another $25,000 this year for engineering and design.
"Our department has asked for $875,000 in 2019 to grade the site and build the trail," said Tom Flick, Appleton's deputy director of parks, recreation and facilities management.
The department has requested another $1 million in 2021 to construct park amenities.
The expenditures will be considered by Mayor Tim Hanna and the Common Council as part of the city's annual budget process.
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No other money for the park is identified in the department's five-year capital improvements plan, but additional funds could be requested at a later date.
"One million dollars would not build everything," Flick said. "I would think there would be future phases needed in order to completely build out the park per the master plan."
The master plan calls for lighted trails, two circular gathering lawns, a peace ring, sculptures, a peace pole, a poet's garden, a quilt garden, a butterfly garden, a gazebo, a pavilion with restrooms, and a curved, pile-supported walkway extending over the edge of the Fox River.
Ellen Kort Peace Park is nestled between the Fox River and West Water Street. It is west of the Oneida Skyline Bridge and east of the Paper Discovery Center.
The west side of the property was once the site of the city's wastewater treatment plant. The east side is owned by We Energies and will be purchased by the city after soil contamination on the site has been cleaned up. Together, the sides total 8.4 acres.
The peace park is named in honor of Kort, a literary giant of the Fox Cities who served as Wisconsin's first poet laureate (2000 to 2004). Kort died in 2015 at age 79.
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