MOSES LAKE - The Moses Lake City Council weighed whether the benefits of a proposed hard surface pathway at McCosh Park would outweigh the project's estimated cost.

The Moses Lake Parks and Recreation Commission recently recommended spending about $177,000 to create the paved loop, which they said would benefit the community during the Moses Lake Farmer's Market, Spring Festival, Five Suns Bluegrass Festival and similar events.

The intent of the project would be twofold, according to parks and recreation director Spencer Grigg, who said it could mitigate damage to turf and trees and assist mobility challenged individuals wishing to more easily participate in park activities.

"For a number of years the city has received communications asking us to do something for seniors and others with reduced mobility who struggle to walk through the grass or are pushing walker or wheelchair," he said.

A more widespread issue may be the impact on park trees when dozens of market vendors drive their vehicles onto the grass every weekend and many weekdays throughout the summer.

"If you compact the soil over the roots of the tree they basically suffocate and die," Grigg said, explaining roots typically extend out from the trunk as far as the edges of the tree's canopy at the height of growth. "Occasionally its fine but every weekend - 27 weekends in a row - it makes an impact."

The city has seen this manifest in dead trees in Ahler's Park and Civic Center Park, both places the market was previously held.

The proposed paved loop is an effort to try and circumvent the same happening at McCosh Park, which Grigg called "the crown" of the city's lake front park system.

"The challenge is making this all work within budgetary constraints," he said.

Councilman Dick Deane asked what the estimated cost would be if the city used in-house labor for the project, which would install 530 linear feet of city-owned paver blocks in a 10-foot wide loop.

Grigg replied it would run about $30,000, exceeding the legal definition of a public works project and requiring the city to solicit bids.

"Initially when we began discussing this we were hopeful we would be able to fall below the threshold and utilize our own staff for labor and use existing stores of pavers that have been removed from other locations and are available to us," Grigg said. "Upon crunching the numbers we became painfully aware it would exceed the threshold."

Grigg said the city doesn't have to use pavers, but asphalt or concrete could undermine the overall park aesthetic and it's not yet clear if purchasing those materials would significantly reduce the project cost.

Council members directed him to determine how the project cost could change if those materials were substituted.

"I don't feel we have enough information to make a decision at this time," Deane said, a sentiment shared by other council members.

This week Grigg said he and his staff are still awaiting necessary information to complete new project estimates.