KALAMAZOO (WKZO-AM) — There has been a lot of talk about a master plan to upgrade and refurbish Bronson Park this week, something that they have been talking about for some time.
They estimate it will cost $2.8 million. The plan is to fund it without using taxpayer’s dollars. They have been working with foundations and local corporations and, this week, formally asked the county board to join them to seek a state grant.
Deputy City Manager Jeff Chamberlain said they are planning an Oct. 20 event in the park to kick off the public fundraising campaign.
“We are going to have displays about what the with what the improvements will look like for Bronson Park,” Chamberlain said “There is going to be live music, so it’s kind of a kick-off celebration.”
He says their “quiet campaign” has been going well. They have already collected over $700,000 from foundations, businesses and local philanthropists.
Chamberlain said Bronson Park is Kalamazoo County’s “front porch” and it needs “improvements to make it a more welcoming place than it already is.” The master plan calls for the work to begin in 2018 if they can find the funding.
In a nutshell, the plan calls for improvements in the sound and seating around the Rotary Stage, adding a splash-pad that turns into an ice skating rink in the winter, more educational information on the Indian mound. There will be new benches, picnic tables and sidewalks.
The most-expensive single cost will be rebuilding and overhauling the Fountain of the Pioneers. The historic and controversial water feature is crumbling and its mechanical pumps and plumbing need to be redone.
They plan to move and remount Kirk Newman’s sculptures of children so they aren’t so easy to climb around, and move many of the war memorials to areas where they can be more easily accessible.
A long-term plan is to restore the tree canopy over the park that hasn’t been the same since the 1980 tornado that ripped through downtown Kalamazoo. Chamberlain said, if they plant the trees now and wait for them to grow, eventually the canopy wil return.
