The Parks, Art, Recreation and Culture Advisory Commission will have a chance to revise its proposal for safer access to Karen Hornaday Park. The Homer City Council deferred an ordinance Monday that would have allocated funding for safety improvements such as speed bumps and speed limit signs on the road leading into the park. The council also sent the measure back to the commission.
The council directed the commission to craft an ordinance in line with phase two of the park’s master plan earlier this year, but the plan calls for the road to be moved entirely. The city estimated that the project would cost roughly $700,000 in 2012.
The council initially asked the parks commission to find cheaper options, but two commission members told the council Monday that its directive limited what the panel could consider.
Deb Lowney chairs the commission.
“The main objective of the master plan in reference to the road and parking is to get it all to the west side, and this is a major diversion from that,” Lowney said. “I think that is one of our most difficult tasks to deal with.”
Robert Archibald also sits on the commission, and he called the ordinance a “Band-Aid.” The ordinance would provide about $48,000 for safety improvements, but Archibald suggested that the commission could find grants and other funding to provide more improvements.
The parks commission is set to take up the ordinance later this month, and the council will reconsider the measure on Oct. 8.