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Government

Davenport Task Force Resumes Meeting

Zach Wilson, WVIK News
Dillon Memorial, where Main Street meets River Drive. The park that Davenport plans to build will be nearby.

Davenport is working on plans for a "world class playground" on the riverfront. That's how a member of a special task force describes what will happen at Main Street Landing.

On Tuesday night, the Main Street Landing Regional Activity Area Task Force met at City Hall. Alderman At-Large Kyle Gripp says it was their first meeting since June because the city decided to put the task force on hold to focus on flood mitigation.

"It was decided we were going to hit pause, and say here's what the mission of the group is, we are going to reconvene in the fall. We'll spend a few months trying to define what the scope is, what the budget is, and what this process is going to be."

Gripp says it's important that people understand that, as with any new construction on the riverfront, the city will be taking flooding into account.

"It will be on the riverfront. We understand that there will be flooding. So, the idea is using flood-resilient design to put this park there, the infrastructure will not be ruined by the flooding."

He says the "splash pad" at Centennial Park and the gazebo at River Heritage Park were both unaffected by this year's flood thanks to their flood-resilient design.

The city council has budgeted $1 million a year for three years for this towards this project. An additional $500,000 will come from a grant from the state of Iowa, and the city is currently looking for other partners as well. Construction on Main Street Landing is expected to begin in 2021.

The next meeting of the task force will be held during the first week of December. 

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