Page 8A — FRIDAY & SATURDAY, October 2-3, 2009
Creek: City looks for more cash to advance plans for park
CONTINUED from page 1A
In September 2007, the city
paid $8 million for the prop-
erty, which was owned and
farmed by the Crane family
for 130 years. Recently opened
to the public, the land remains
mostly how the Cranes left
it: wide open fields of thick,
knee-high grass surrounded by
clumps of cedar and hardwood
and bisected by the clear-run-
ning water of Gans Creek.
Over the next several years,
much of the property, along
with A. Perry Philips Park to
the north, will be transformed
into a 460-acre megapark akin
to the 533-acre Cosmopolitan
Park on the city’s north side. A
proposed master plan for the
southeast park, which borders
Nifong Park and Rock Bridge
Memorial State Park, includes
an indoor ice rink, an indoor
sports complex, an indoor/out-
door water park, a dozen or
more sports fields and an area
for horses, plus playgrounds
and shelters.
Toney Lowery, senior parks
planner for the city, said it
might take as long as 20 years
to fully develop the park.
Given the state of the land,
it’s difficult to imagine all the
baseball, softball, football and
soccer games that might soon
be played on it. Where now the
smell of wet bark rinsed by
recent rain blows through the
fields, the smell will some day
be that of fresh-cut grass or
the earthy smell of horses.
Lowery said the surrounding
area might eventually become
one of the busiest in Columbia,
but for now the park possesses
the quiet atmosphere of farm-
land. But that’s not to say there
isn’t much activity taking place.
The forest and fields are alive
with creatures large and small.
Three deer step out of the tree
line and into the pasture for
an evening of grazing, only to
be spooked by the presence of
people.
Take a few steps into the
trees, and it won’t be long
before you’re running into
spider webs. Bird nests dot the
trees, and a hawk screeches
overhead. The area is heavily
populated by birds, including
the giant Canada geese that
inhabit Philips Lake.
“There is a heron rookery
on the property,” Lowery said.
“It’s difficult to see at this time
of year but very easy to see in
the spring.”
Lowery is part of a team of
planners working on the new
park’s design. Although the
plans are elaborate, the team
will try to preserve the natural
beauty of the land. Gans Creek
is one of the key areas of the
property the Parks Department
is looking to protect because
of its sensitive nature. The city
hopes to prevent even minor
harm to its water quality.
“Gans Creek has several
characteristics that probably
make it more sensitive than
most of the creeks in the area,”
Lowery said. “First is the gen-
eral nature of the area it flows
through, which is mainly a
karst area, meaning that water
flows very easily through the
rock. Gans Creek is, in fact, a
‘losing stream,’ which means
it loses more water through its
streambed than it receives.
“Second, the Devil’s Icebox
Cave runs underneath Gans
Creek, and because the creek
water is infiltrating the ground,
some of it would make its way
to the Devil’s Icebox, which is
the only known location of pink
planaria. Some types of water
pollution could have an adverse
effect on this animal. Third,
Gans Creek is really a clean
creek and has better-than-aver-
age water quality.”
The department plans to
keep those factors in mind as it
develops the park. The master
plan proposes a 100-foot buf-
fer on both sides of the creek,
which would combine with a
61-acre natural preservation
area to create an 87-acre zone
off-limits to development.
Planners also hope to use
two ponds and Philips Lake to
protect the creek and reduce
human impact on the park. The
smaller of two ponds on the
property will become a deten-
tion basin that will play a role
in improving the creek’s water
quality. The pond will collect
storm runoff, allowing chemi-
cals and sediment to settle
before reaching the creek.
The small pond also would
be part of a proposed dog park.
For now, it’s not much to look
at — its surface is covered
with the green scum of algae.
The larger pond to the west,
though, is much nicer. Its flat,
clear surface reflects the sky
and is alive with ripples of
movement from the creatures
that live within it. The pond
harbors healthy populations of
bass, crappie and catfish, Low-
ery said, as well as snapping
turtles and a few muskrats.
The city will have little to do in
the way of improvements for
the pond, since it is planned to
be used for fishing.
On the north side of Gans
Road, Philips Lake will be a
centerpiece of the park. At
present, the lake is surrounded
by green space in a serene envi-
ronment similar to that of the
Gans Creek Recreation Area.
But park development already
is happening. Construction
crews are creating docks and a
parking lot for anglers.
Parks and Recreation Direc-
tor Mike Hood said planners
hope to emphasize the lake as
a primary feature of the park.
The master plan proposes a
lake-loop trail, and the city
plans to use a grant from the
Missouri Department of Con-
servation to build a boat ramp.
“There was significant sup-
Columbia Missourian
port for the idea of maximizing
the use of the lake and having
the lake become a focal point
of that portion of the park,”
Hood said.
“Such things as trails, shel-
ters, access to the lake via
a boat ramp, etc., received
strong support,” he added,
referring to surveys the city
solicited from residents.
The privately owned land
across the lake from the park
is empty and open, but over the
next several years it will fill
with homes, offices and busi-
nesses, Lowery said.
The creek, which is the main
feature of Gans Creek Recre-
ation Area, is set off from the
rest of the property by trees
and gently rolling hills, making
it seem even more distant from
the lights and sounds of city
life. Lowery said she predicts
the creek will retain that quiet
atmosphere once the rest of the
park becomes active.
“You’ll never hear the ball
games down here because of
the grade change,” Lowery
said as he stood by the creek.
Signs of the Cranes’ time on
this piece of country land are
apparent. Barbed-wire fences
cut across the property in
every direction. Two houses
The city sees
Gans Creek
Recreation Area
as an important
link in the park
system, given
its proximity
to two other
parks. Several
structures that
the city wants to
utilize remain on
the property from
previous owners.
JOHN SCHREIBER
Missourian
and various barns stand on the
land, and the Parks Depart-
ment has uses in mind for
them. One of the houses, for
example, could be rented to a
resident caretaker, who could
cut the grass and watch the
park in the evening.
Creating a park takes a lot of
imagination, a challenge that
requires planners to literally
make something from nothing.
To date, they’ve had a lot of
help. Along with the surveys,
the city has held several public
hearings on the park plan, and
it accepted written comment
through the end of September.
The parks staff will tweak the
plan a bit more before sending
it to the Columbia City Council
for final approval.
One of the primary obstacles
remaining is money. Other
than the funding for the docks
and boat ramp, the city has no
money set aside for the park’s
development. An extension of
the city’s park sales tax, which
is scheduled to expire next
year, would be the most likely
source of cash.
“If it passes, we’ll have
money to start doing some of
the development,” Lowery said.
“If it doesn’t pass, it will be a
lot slower.”