WCCB approves park gift to Riverside

By Mary Zielinski
If it accepts the gift, Riverside will gain a nearly 11 acre park, courtesy of the Washington County Conservation Board (WCCB) that August 12 approved transferring Iowa Township park to city ownership. The park, which borders Mt. Olivet Cemetery at the north edge of Riverside, is entirely within the city limits.
Monday, August 17, the Riverside council authorized clerk/administrator Tina Thomas to send a letter of interest to the county, a further step in the transfer.
The WCCB approved the transfer at its meeting August 12, during which time Chairman Lyle Moen said it had been discussedby the WCCB for about a year and brought up to the Riverside Community Visioning Committee in April.
The park, which dates to 1964 and concisgs of four small parcels, has a new shelter and a reconstructed fishing pond. The shelter was repaired last year and has a new roof.
The county traded land with St. Mary’s Catholic Church for the land under the pond for a parcel that could later be used for cemetery expansion. It amounted to “no tombstones” for the park “and no pond for the cemetery,” noted WCCB executive director Steve Anderson. However, the county took care of mowing the church parcel, something that may continue with city ownership.
One of the provisions of the gift is that the area remain a park, and the DNR will see about continuing stocking the pond with fish.
County Attorney Barbara Edmondson, who attended last week’s meeting, said there should be very few problems in obtaining abstracts and a deed, adding it could be done well before the end of the year.
The county, if the transfer is approved by the supervisors, will do the abstracts.
The WCCB meeting was attended by Riverside council members Randy Sexton and Betty Kaalberg and Thomas.