Calling the floodway along Rapid Creek “sacred ground,” Friends of Rapid City Parks is on record again in opposition to construction of additional buildings in the park, specifically a proposed field house to be erected between the swim center and ice arena.
According to FRCP board president Steve McCarthy, “Regrettably, the proposal to construct the Roosevelt Park Field House begs the proposition that we can continue to erect buildings in the floodway. Friends of Rapid City Parks has opposed, and will continue to oppose this notion. While we agree that the purposes for which the field house is designed are laudable and in the civic interest, we cannot condone continued encroachment on what our members consider to be sacred ground.”
In comments to the three chairs of subcommittees reviewing proposals for Phase Four of the 2012 Vision Funds, Friends pointed out that the greenway is a memorial to the lives lost in the 1972 flood. The land was designated as park after the flood, and McCarthy said “the statute and ordinances under which this land was designated have been stretched and squeezed to allow paving and building of more than 60 structures in the 38 years since the greenway was set aside.”
In comments on other proposals, Friends supported development of trails in the Skyline Wilderness Park and completion of landscaping, stream buffer and path design in West Memorial Park just west of the Eighth Street “turn around.”
You can download a copy of FRCP’s complete comments here.