WOODS CROSS—The Woods City Council is looking at a proposed plan to improve Hogan Park that would increase the size of the bowery, add an amphitheater and other amenities.

“There’s still some tweaking we’ve got to do,” said Public Works Director Sam Christiansen. “The park infrastructure, bowery and restrooms are aging. We decided to do a whole remodel and make it more of a city center park where families and the city can have organized events, performances, movies in the park and have the ability to handle all of that while making it pleasing to those who just want to enjoy the park.”

The plans call for increasing the size of the bowery, he said. “That can be used for city functions like our Memorial Day celebration and smaller performances or family gatherings. We’re also going to increase the size of the restrooms and make a kitchen available. The other big thing is an amphitheater where we can have music concerts or summer rec plays.”

The playground equipment will be updated to include all access for wheelchairs, etc., he said. “Parents will be able to sit in the shade or play pickle ball and watch their kids.”

The newly designed park will accommodate performances, farmers markets and food trucks, said Christiansen. “The highlight of the park is for it to be a gathering place. It will have one continuous path around it with a few places to sit down. We’ll be using the same footprint but in a more aesthetically pleasing way.”

Christiansen said the amphitheater will be placed in a direction that projects noise away from homes near the park. “It’s positioned toward an open field. We’ll also have a curfew on events. In the past we’ve had movies and concerts and other events at the park and for the most part people haven’t complained so far.”

This has been a number one priority for the city council for a few years, he said. “They’ve kicked it off so we can apply for grants. It’s a pretty high cost and the costs just keep going up. As soon as we have the right amount of funding we’ll get started. I hope it’s sooner than later but we want to be responsible with everybody’s money.”

The council has made some suggestions to enhance the current plan, said Christiansen. “They want us to look at the performance area and make it more multi-functional and decide whether to have a mobile stage or concrete stage. They also requested a bigger kitchen area for food preparation.”

Everybody’s excited on the council, he said. “They want to respond to the citizens’ needs and requests for a farmers market and food trucks.”

The park will be a great feature for residents of Woods Cross to be able to enjoy, Christiansen said. “We want to improve the park so we can have large gathering events and also have an area where people can just have a pickup game. That is what the park is for, is for the community to benefit.”