Marseilles lays plans for Broadway Park OSLAD grant application

A Broadway Park facelift could be in the works if city of Marseilles’ application for an Open Space Land and Acquisition Development grant is selected.

Andy Howard from Hitchcock Design Group presented the plans to the Marseilles City Council on Wednesday. The plan includes a splash pad, a new handicap-accessible playground, two pickleball courts and a new basketball court.

“What we do with the OSLAD grant is come in and say we’re looking at proposing five or six types of amenities,” Howard said. “They like a diversity of amenities.”

Howard said this means having a playground, an area for active sports and a splash pad will benefit the application because it’ll be for use by the largest amount of people.

Along with the other amenities will be plenty of benches, plenty of shade using new landscaping and some of the trees that are already there.

The design also would disconnect Grant Street from Broadway Street to create a more organized design that would create more green space.

The council also discussed the possibility of putting a restroom in the park but that’s something that could come along later.

Commissioner Bobby Kaminski said these park improvements could be helpful for property values in the neighborhood surrounding it.

The cost of the park is expected to be $850,000 with the grant typically covering $425,000 of that. However, Marseilles is considered a distressed community so it would qualify to have $600,000 of the cost of improving Broadway Park covered.