Splash pad donor steps forward
By Valorie Brecht
Almost four years since a committee began raising funds for the Loyal Splash Pad, the project has secured full funding.
“We had a local anonymous donor come forward who would like to contribute the rest of the money needed,” wrote Kaila Fitzl, project organizer, in an Oct. 9 email.
The donation marks the end of a fundraising campaign that started back in 2020 to meet the $400,000 price tag. As of Oct. 8, there was $43,716 left to raise, but now that amount will be taken care of.
Other progress steps have also been made. On Tuesday night, the Loyal City Council approved the splash pad committee purchasing the mechanicals for the splash pad for an amount not to exceed $131,000. The City of Loyal is not paying for the splash pad; all the money is coming from the splash pad fund, managed by the Clark County Community Foundation. However, the city has to approve purchases because the splash pad will be on city property and the city will maintain it, once it is built.
City council member and splash pad committee member Curtiss Lindner said there was supposed to be a 5-percent increase for the cost of the mechanicals as of Oct. 1, but he negotiated with the vendor and they agreed to honor their original quote until Lindner could get council approval.
Site work has also been done at the West Side Park. The tentative plan is for the splash pad to be south of the beach volleyball court, where the horseshoe pits used to be.
“We did explore digging a well (by the press box) and had very positive results from that test well – in fact, so positive that we requested to the DNR to let us keep that well casing open,” said Lindner.
The well produced upwards of 120 gallons per minute, more than the 107 gallons per minute the splash pad requires. The splash pad committee has submitted a high-capacity well permit to the DNR as well as a discharge to surface permit. Assuming permits are approved, the plan is for the well company to come back and make that same well bigger.
Because the well was so successful, the committee decided to switch to a flowthrough system instead of recirculating. This will result in large cost savings on maintenance, because no chemical treatments nor water testing will be needed.
For those who would still like their name enshrined in the splash pad’s legacy, personalized bricks are available to order until the end of the year. People may visit clarkccf. org and click on “City of Loyal Splash Pad Project” for the brick order form.
The plan is to start construction this spring.
