BETTENDORF, Iowa (AP) - A casino will team up with a city in eastern Iowa to build a $1.1 million park along the Mississippi River where a riverboat casino stood for many years.
Bettendorf city administrator Decker Ploehn told the Quad-City Times (https://bit.ly/2p4USvN ) that $694,000 of the $1.1 million proposal will be allocated toward improvements, and the remaining funds will be used to demolish dockside equipment that once serviced the boat.
“We have the opportunity to create something special on this site,” Ploehn said.
Ploehn said the Isle Casino Hotel Bettendorf reached out to the city over a year ago with a proposal that now calls for the city to contribute $250,000 to the project. Originally, the city set aside $500,000 in the capital improvement plan budget for the park, but the City Council decided it didn’t want to spend that much on the project.
“I think it will be well utilized, and I think it will be kind of destination point,” Alderwoman Debe LaMar said.
Renderings of the park call for fishing piers, a new landscaped area with benches and routing a nearby bike path through the park. The park will also maintain docking access for boats.
The casino will be responsible for the construction of the project, and the city will take control of the park’s maintenance once the casino’s lease with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources expires. City attorney Kristine Stone says its current lease runs through November 2018 but that it could be terminated earlier.
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Information from: Quad-City Times, https://www.qctimes.com
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