The community has been working to develop a design for the improvement of Central Park for more than one year. This process has involved a tremendous amount of public input and effort. More recently a coalition involving members of the City Council, Park and Recreation Board, Grinnell Area Arts Council and others has been working to refine the early designs based on the additional public input that has been received. Recently this hard work was rewarded when the Iowa Department of Cultural Affairs recognized Grinnell as an Iowa Great Place providing grant funds for the project. The improvement of Central park was integral to this recognition.

We are excited to present this preliminary design and to accept additional feedback. This design will be used to perform additional grant writing and private fundraising. It is anticipated that the construction of the improvements at Central Park will occur in the 2016 construction season. Initially we are planning for the project to have a total budget of $3.5 million.