NORTH LOGAN — The City Council heard a proposal to improve Meadow View Park from Public Works Director Alan Luce. The proposed improvements include a walking path and a water feature. The improvements are projected to cost around $120,000.

To help pay for the project, Luce said the Public Works Department plans to submit a grant proposal to get $70,000 in RAPZ funding from the county. RAPZ grants come from a .1 percent sales tax collected in the county, and funds are awarded to communities and groups for projects that benefit the public.

The water feature is a splash pad, or a concrete pad with water jets for children to play in.

Councilman Roger Anderson asked Luce how much the splash pad might incur in ongoing maintenance costs.

Luce said he has talked with several cities who own splash pads about ongoing costs and heard they were relatively low.

“As you know, Providence has installed one, and theirs is used beyond belief,” Luce said. “It is a very attractive feature in their park.”

Luce said the water feature will only run when in use, cutting water consumption. “Basically, you turn it on with a button,” he said. “A kid runs up and pushes the button and it runs for a five to six minute cycle.” The water will shut off on a timer in the evening and turn back on in the morning, so even if the button is pressed at night the feature won’t run, Luce said.

A splash pad uses a small amount of water, comparable to sprinklers running for a similar length of time over a similar area, Luce said. Since the splash pad won’t be running all day every day, it uses less water than one might imagine. It will be used from early June to late September depending on the weather, he said.

“As far as maintenance and upkeep, though, Providence has told me it’s very, very minimal. They don’t really have to do anything,” he said.

The walking path and splash pad would likely decrease vandalism in Meadow View Park, he said. Each feature is by nature hard to vandalize, and increased usage of the park would deter vandalism.

“Increasing the usage obviously drops vandalism, because you have more eyes on the park,” Luce said.

Published in cooperation with the Hard News Cafe. Original story is here.