Carson City parks facilities suffer $1.67 million in damages

Carson City isn’t finished assessing the fallout from the January storms and flooding, but preliminary estimates are the city’s parks and recreation facilities suffered $1.67 million in damages.

The hardest hit were the trails of Riverview Park, which incurred about $612,000 in damages, Steve Brunner, deputy director, Parks, Recreation & Open Space, told the Parks and Recreation Commission Tuesday.

“Two miles of trails are pretty much washed away,” Brunner said.

Other affected areas include Empire Ranch Estates Park, hit with $315,000 in damages; Riverview Trail, assessed at $186,000; and the Linear Ditch Trail with $150,000 in needed repairs.

Governors Field and Pete Livermore Sports Complex suffered $40,000 and $32,000 in damages, respectively.

“Our high priority is to make the fields at sports complexes safe for the kids who use them,” starting this month or next, said Jennifer Budge, director, Parks and Rec.

Budge said she expected further erosion and damage from this week’s floods.

She also cautioned hikers eager to get back on the trails to be careful.

“Really use caution on trails. Make sure you’re with someone, have a phone with you, and tell someone where you’re going,” Budge said.

During the January flood event, Gov. Brian Sandoval declared a state of emergency at the city’s request, allowing the city to use state resources.

The city is working with the Federal Emergency Management Agency to assess the damage and apply for federal funds to cover the costs.

The commission also discussed the department’s upcoming capital improvement program requests, giving direction to staff on what the commissioners consider to be priorities.

“The process is very competitive,” said Budge. “There is fire, police and a lot of other departments fighting for this money.”

Budge presented a list of items, but rather than rank them specifically, the board said to prioritize them based on safety, savings and recurring cost.

Some of the safety-related items discussed were a load monitoring system for the Bob Boldrick Theater, five deteriorating bridges at Mills Park, laser grading of infields, a grease trap at Centennial Park, which if not installed would close down the concession, and special event stages and bleachers, some of which are more than 30 years old, said Budge.

Dan Earp, the department’s new recreation superintendent, gave an update on the Multipurpose Athletic Center.

Earp said to date the MAC has had 11,599 drop-in customers and sold 494 passes and memberships. It has hosted 2,013 participants in 10 youth and adult leagues.

Tournaments included USA Nevada Wrestling, Carson City Dodgeball and Sierra Nevada College Lacrosse.

Earp said the challenges for its second year is parking, which does get filled up on certain nights, and some leaks in the building, which the department is working with the construction contractor to fix.

“The rain came at a good time, we’re finding the leaks before the warranty is up,” said Earp.

Other challenges include boosting use of the facility in spring and summer, when many people prefer to be outdoors, and finding additional revenue sources such as more special events and tournaments.