Park board mulls over Maytag Park office idea

The Newton Park Board discussed the future of the Maytag Park caretaker’s home at its meeting Wednesday night at Newton City Hall.

The 900 square foot home, which hasn’t had work done to it since around the mid-1970s, had been used as a residential rental but has been vacant since renters moved out this summer.

The board heard from Public Works Director Keith Laube about the Maytag Park caretaker’s home property, and Laube provided a plan showing renovations needed to update the property into either a marketable residential rental or an office.

“Whatever we do with this structure, we probably need to invest a little bit of money to do those upgrades. If we wanted to put it into a public space, whether that’s an education center or park office, we would need to do some additional components,” Laube said.

The property would need some basic upgrades if the parks department would like to use it as a residential rental such as air condition, flooring, painting and plumbing renovations, an estimated total of $20,000-$25,000, Laube said.

It would need additional upgrades if the parks department would like to turn it into an office such as parking, electrical and ADA accessible entryway and restrooms. Those would cost an additional $20,000 to $25,000 for a total of $40,000 to $50,000, Laube said.

“There is some differences in revenue there, but I look at efficiency of the operation — how it is going to function. We need to work together as one unit,” Laube said.

Each board member recently met with parks administrative superintendent Nathan Unsworth for a tour of the property and discussed the future of the facility, weighing the advantages and disadvantages of using the property as a rental or an office.

To turn it into a rental would create a revenue source for the city, however, there would be no guarantee of a good renter through an open market.

Board member Amanda Price said she thinks maintaining the historic integrity of the home would be difficult with renters and feels it makes more sense to combine parks to one centralized location.

“I think because of the history of this building, the history of the park itself and that it’s in the park, I’d be all for it being the parks office,” Price said. “It would be nice to have a presence in the park, and I’m confident having the city in that building as an office it would last for hopefully another 100 years.”

To turn it into an office would improve logistics and create a more centralized parks department operation, however, it would leave behind its role with Project AWAKE and its presence at the Newton Arboretum.

Project AWAKE board president Linda Dalton attended the meeting to observe and learn more about the building plans. She said the nonprofit has enjoyed its agreement with the city.

“It’s worked out kind of as a mutually beneficial situation for a long time because we don’t really need anyone there full time to answer phones or occasional clerical things,” Dalton said.

Unsworth, who currently operates out of the park office at the Newton Arboretum, said the office receives one to two calls a day in regard to Project AWAKE and an estimated 20 to 30,000 people visit the facility each year.

“I think it speaks well of Newton that we do have a presence out there. It’s really convenient to have that office there, and it’s great to have somebody available for visitors. It’s something we would probably have to really think through,” Dalton said.

Dalton said she plans to meet with the Project AWAKE board to research and evaluate how much of an asset the office is to the facility and will present its feedback to the park board.

The park board tabled the discussion until its November meeting for input from Project AWAKE. It will then decide a recommendation on how to use the space and what to budget.

The home could be remodeled this winter and it could be a parks office by the spring, Laube said. This will depend on remaining available funds for this year, otherwise the city can budget it in the following year.

In other news:

• The boulder park was approved by city council. It will be installed spring 2017.

• Designs for an Aurora skate park have not been finished but Unsworth expects the designs to be ready later this fall.

• The bike trail from East 19th Street North to Woodland Park is in construction and nearing completion.

• Laube, Unsworth, Brad Sponseller and Nick Cummins met at Otter Creek to discuss its clubhouse operations and gather ideas for a future Westwood Golf Course clubhouse remodel. They also met with a small business consultant. Both were positive and productive conversations, Unsworth said.

Contact Kate Malott at 641-792-3121 ext. 6533 or kmalott@newtondailynews.com