Officials, Parks Board members and recreational groups are asking Helena voters to dig into their pockets a bit this fall and support a $7.85 million bond to revamp aging facilities and add a new multipurpose gem to the Queen City's core.

The plan includes a $3.9 million outlay to Centennial Park -- turning the city's old trash dump off Last Chance Gulch into a 49-acre playground for all ages -- along with $2.75 million for needed maintenance and a new family water park at the Memorial Park Pool, and $1.2 million to renovate old and inadequate facilities at Kindrick Legion Field.

Those costs include about $350,000 needed to administer the sale of the bonds. The proposal would raise $7.5 million for the three projects.

City Commission candidates -- all of whom said they would vote for the measure -- in a recent forum called the bond this election's key issue. The result could either be a solid commitment to recreation in Helena or a delay to needed maintenance at existing facilities.

If the bond fails, Helenans eventually could pay for much of the work through general fund tax dollars, Parks Board Member Jerry Spencer said.

"These items are on the city's capital improvements list," he said. "If we had to take this out of the general fund, it would take a long time and we run the risk of losing Memorial Park Pool and some of the best features of Kindrick Legion Field."

It's difficult to determine what the 20-year bond would cost Helena homeowners, but officials estimate the average property owner would pay about $22 annually -- cheaper than two movie tickets and a pizza dinner.

The value of a home can vary widely, depending on whether it's being priced by a Realtor or whether a homeowner is studying his or her state Department of Revenue assessment -- and DOR values may also vary based on when the home was purchased or whether improvements have been made to the property.

The median DOR-based value in Helena is about $75,000. For a home with that value, the parks bond would add $21.46 to the annual tax bill, city Administrative Services Director Tim Magee has said.

To learn how much the bond will cost, homeowners should look at the market value on their latest property tax bill and figure $1.43 for every $5,000 in DOR property value.

While some property owners undoubtedly grimace at the thought of raising their tax bills, Helena Citizens Council District 7 Rep. Ellen Bell has heard a different concern from some residents in her neighborhood.

The district is home to two undeveloped city park parcels, one which hasn't seen any work for two decades. Bell, who said she personally supports the proposed bond, said some neighbors are opposed to paying for centralized park improvements when their neighborhood parks haven't received attention.

City commissioners and officials are studying ways to spur neighborhood park development, including a contribution of general-fund money. Neighborhoods could be asked to approve park-improvement districts to raise a portion of the money through in a cost-share scenario. No formal proposal has yet come before the commission.

Centennial Park

If voters approve the bond, about half the money would go to transform the city's old garbage dump into a jewel of a park -- a 49-acre facility hosting a mix of youth and adult sports and a blend of general recreational opportunities and specific niche activities.

The Centennial Park plan aims to please both the young and the old, providing opportunities to relax over a picnic lunch, take an evening stroll, play with the dog, dig into the dirt and stunts on a mountain bike, scale a climbing wall or work on kickflips in an expanded skateboard park.

"Most communities, when they're developing a park like this, they've got to go out to the suburbs," Parks and Recreation Director Randy Lilje said. "Here we've got an opportunity to build this right in the middle of town."

Plans include a 7,000-square-foot expansion of the existing skateboard park, with the addition of beginner and expert bowl features, a quartet of tournament-ready softball fields, improvements to the existing soccer fields, a dog park, a mountain bike freeride course and a bouldering/climbing facility.

A promenade walkway would lead into the park from the Great Northern Town Center, and 2.3 miles of trails would provide a hub for the Helena walking community, linking to the Spring Meadow Lake path, Last Chance Gulch and perhaps eventually crossing into Nature Park.

"It's a blank slate, an old garbage dump," Parks Board Member Pete Brown said. "We're taking dirt piles and turning it into a recreation facility."

The idea for a large park at this location first was raised in a 1969 comprehensive park plan -- which included the first renovation of Memorial Park Pool, completed in 1975, a nine-hole expansion at Bill Roberts Golf Course, finished in 1978, and an interesting notion to build a zoo at a site that eventually became Nature Park.

Centennial Park's evolution into a central Helena green space is the final piece.

"The city has chipped away at (the plan)," Lilje said. "Now we're at the point where we can have this, something that will be very special to the citizens of Helena."

The bulk of the bond money would go to earthwork, the addition of some 300 trees, native vegetation in the northern portion of the plot, shelters, decomposed granite trails and other improvements.

About $260,000 in remaining open-space bond money already has been allocated to the softball complex.

The parks bond money will build a park, but other funds are needed to turn it into a "Cadillac," Parks Board members said.

Shares of cash would go toward some of the specific projects, though the city will rely on civic groups to raise remaining funds and donate labor to make the skateboard park expansion, the climbing/bouldering area and the freeride bike course a reality.

Brown also is a member of the Helena Skate Park Improvement Group, which has committed to raising $150,000 of the $300,000 needed to expand the facility using recycled materials like fly-ash concrete, waste tire bales and crushed glass cullet. The group has raised about $18,000 so far.

Climb Helena would raise between $7,000 and $15,000 to pay for half of the climbing/bouldering area, Co-Chair Matt Elsaesser said.

Lilje said local mountain bike enthusiasts will do much of the earthwork associated with freeride course.

Helena Softball Association President Jim Pellegrini said his group has committed to paying for home run fencing and backstops, and will donate labor to lay sod at the fields. The association pays for maintenance and irrigation at Batch Fields, and plans to do the same at the new complex.

The group hosts tournaments, including statewide events, but because of the shortage of playable fields in Helena, those contests may stretch from Friday morning through Sunday, with teams playing until 10 p.m. under the lights at Batch. The new complex would address those issues and ease use on other existing fields. There are no lights slated for the proposed fields.

Kindrick Legion Field

Two years ago, one of the old, 200-foot-tall light poles at this historic ballpark cracked under the stress of Helena Valley winds and fell into the outfield fence. If a sturdy metal fence post hadn't stopped its fall, the pole would have fallen onto the field during an American Legion baseball game.

A few years before, Legion General Manager Joe Underkofler watched a grounder take a bad hop on the rocky infield and break a player's jaw.

Helena Brewers General Manager Paul Fetz shook his head as he showed reporters the team's workout area -- an exercise bike and a small weight machine are squeezed into a corner, a few feet from players' lockers.

The project to upgrade Helena's historic ball park, built around 1940, is primarily a matter of performing some needed housekeeping, though Fetz noted the work will improve fans' experience and make the park safer for players.

"Nowadays in the baseball business, and even in Legion ball ... you want the people who come to enjoy themselves, that's a bottom line," Fetz said.

The professional ball club has outgrown its clubhouse, the poor playing surface hardens and sprouts numerous rocks through the summer, an uneven outfield sometimes causes injuries, the wooden baseline bleachers are nearing the end of their useful lives, and the ballpark lights are dim, inefficient and mounted on old wooden poles.

Officials want to rework the field, providing a softer, more manageable surface. The plans call for new bleachers -- though the charming, historic grandstands will be left in place -- and new metal light poles with energy-efficient lamps that will provide more light for players and fans and cut down on light pollution to the surrounding area.

The home clubhouse will be renovated and expanded, and parking improved with reused road millings, which cost less than asphalt surfacing.

"These improvements will maintain the character of the park but bring it up to standards that will be better for everybody," Underkofler said. "It's going to be good for a long time to come, and I'd say that really for the whole (parks) project."

A timeline hasn't been set, but if voters approve the bond, some work at the ball field could begin in the next year.

Memorial Park Pool

One recent afternoon, Lilje looked down into the pit that holds the pool's circulation pumps and other equipment. The machinery dates back to the pool's last renovation in 1975, and despite careful maintenance, it's beginning to wear down.

The pool, built in the 1940s, is a great example of his staff's dedication to maintaining the city's infrastructure, Lilje said. Other Montana communities have torn out and rebuilt pools half its age.

But no amount of care can still the wear of time.

Lilje doesn't know how much water is seeping through cracks in the pool's floor, and the freeze-and-thaw cycle of winter weather has chipped away at the surrounding deck.

If voters don't approve the bond, repair to the pool and replacement of the equipment would still come out of city taxpayer's pockets, Lilje and Parks Board members said.

The icing on the cake for this project is a proposal to build a family swim park east of the existing pool. The addition would include a kids' pool, spray features, waterslides and a swim channel.

Such parks are becoming more common at public pools across the country, Lilje said, and they tend to increase the usage and revenues at those facilities.

Under the current budget, Helena taxpayers subsidize 70 percent to 80 percent of pool maintenance costs through the city's general fund. With the addition of the water park, increased revenues could cut that subsidy to 50 percent or as little as 20 percent, Lilje said.

The plan also includes an improved concessions area and an upgraded clubhouse.

If the bond is approved, work could begin next fall, Lilje said.

3-in-1

Proponents of the individual projects were pleased with the City Commission's unanimous decision to place one bond instead of three on the ballot.

While some residents may never use a climbing wall, attend a baseball game or swim at the pool, there's a broad range of opportunities all Helenans could enjoy at the three parks if the bond is approved.

"There's something for just about everyone," Brown said.

"All the projects are for the community ... the bottom line is it's going to make our community a much better place," Fetz said.

For more information on the changes proposed by the Parks Bond, check out the IR's election coverage to watch videos and explore interactive maps.

Reporter Larry Kline: 447-4075 or larry.kline@helenair.com