by Terri Kelly Barta

After three years of meetings, the Riverwalk Plaza project got a shot in the arm with an $80,000 North Dakota Parks and Recreation grant. Lisbon’s Sales Tax Area Revitalization (STAR) committee provided a grant of $20,000 for the 80/20 match.

The Healthy Communities Coalition received a letter on Friday, August 8 informing them that the Federal Highway Administration has officially approved the application with the Recreation Trails Program. The grant stipulates that the riverwalk path must be completed within 18 months of approval.  

This grant money will allow the beginning of Phase I of the project which will start this fall with a pathway above the riverbank from Third Avenue to Fifth Avenue. This is the land behind the alley which runs from behind First National Bank up to the 5th Avenue bridge.

Riverwalk Project

 

 

A 2006 grant was received from Catholic Health Initiatives to educate, identify, and promote the project. A grant from the Otto Bremer Foundation matched the CHI grant and  has been used for preliminary work on the project.

Moore Engineering, West Fargo, has been hired as the engineering firm for the project.  “The project is definitely moving forward as planned,” said members of the committee. “We are very excited about the Parks and Recreation grant and the matching STAR grant. We are very appreciative of all the grants the Riverwalk Project has received.”

The project has been divided into phases I-III and is expected to take at least three years to fully complete. Some of the ideas planned are: a concrete bandstand which is handicap accessible, sidewalk, gazebo, picnic tables, benches, trees, trash receptacles, bike rack, and clock. Repaving the parking lot behind the alley from Fourth to Fifth Avenues, special entrance signage, planting of shrubs, flowers, possible rest rooms, etc. are included in phase III. The riverwalk pathway is in the first phase and has already been staked.

The City of Lisbon is in support of the project and has agreed to maintain the property.

Volunteers will be a large part of the project. Anyone who is interested in helping with any of the phases of the project can contact committee members or show up on a work day.

Members of the committee include: Nancy Skjefte, Oakes, Deb Lee, Al Michels, Greg  Jensen, Chris Erickson, Sr., Terri Kelly Barta, and Elinor Meckle, all Lisbon. Others who have contributed input into the project are: Dick Herring, David Olson, Bryan Stotts, Chris Erickson, Jr.,  Brian Shelton, Verne Watts, Missy Schmidt, Gina Kelly, Morrie Saxerud, and student consultants Veronica Munkeby and Erik Heitkamp. Brian Beckedahl and Sister Doretta Meier were on the committee,  but have each since moved away from the area.

The idea of the Riverwalk was first created in the early 1990s by a group of dedicated Lisbon community leaders. It was later dropped for a number of reasons. It was included in Ransom County’s Vision 2010 plan created in 2000. Due to lack of funding and some obstacles, the idea lay dormant until 2006 when the Creating Healthier Communities Coalition picked up the idea and began to work on it again.

The dream became a vision and will soon become a reality as, with the community’s help, the project moves forward.