$3.5 Million Bonding Proposal For Parks On Ballot

ín addition to the mayoral and council races on the ballot tomorrow, voters of Ann Arbor will be asked to approve a I $3.5 million bond issue for parks and recreation. As passed by council, the bond proposal delineates three uses for the bond íunds. The largest share, $2.1 million, will be spent on improvement of present parks and development of new ones. Three of the major Hurón River parks, f-7 ( f LL(C around Barton, Argo, and Geddes Ponds, will for the first time be opened up to reasonable access, and be improved for recreational use. Plans for development have been made by two private landscape architects, R. W. Bills and Kenneth Polakowski, under contract to the city, and the third was made by the staff of the Parks and Recreation Department. In addition to those parks, another major recreational development will be made at Leslie Park, and the first phase of developing the used portion of the city landfill site will be done. The acquisition portion of the bond wiii amount to $1 million, and the city is virtually assured of receiving at least 50 , per cent matching money from various federal and state grants to augment this amount. Primary need is for new parkland in the southeast and southwest sections of the city, neighborhood parks for newly 1 developed áreas, and small "minipark?" or playlots in some of the older parts of Ann Arbor. Another new outdoor swimming pool is proposed to relieve the heavy use the three present pools are getting, and this pool will be located in the north central portioc of the city. Pnce for this pool is set at $400,000, and there will be no ice-rink adjoining it, as at the other pool. Cost. to the average taxpayer (on a home valued at $24,800 and assessed at .2.400) would be $7.19 for the first year, and less each succeeding year over the 17 to 20-year life of the bond. The bonding proposal has been supported by every council and mayoral candidate as well as the League of Women Voters, the Sierra Club, the Ann Arbor Planning Commission, the local chapter of Zero Population Growth, the Citizens Association for Area Planning and the board of the Ann Arbor Citi zen's Council. According to Douglas Crary, former city councilman and chairman of the citizens' committee formed to promote the bond issue, "a yes vote is vitally needed as a second phase in the developraenl of the Huron River, to coordinate w!th the dam repair work already approved by the voters. This is an opportunity we cannot afford to miss." AU registered voters are eligible to vote on the bonding proposal. .