The city of Coeur d'Alene is barging forward with the McEuen Field removal project leaving a wake of controversy behind. I recently spent some time on the city's website to assess the latest design. After a close perusal of the "McEuen Current" site, I made a few observations:

• The Third Street boat ramp is scheduled for removal.

• 15.4 percent of the project budget is for park development.

• The project adds an insignificant amount of new parking.

• The cost of relocating the existing parking is astonishing.

• The Centennial Trail across the park will be in a ditch.

• The cost of design is 16 percent of the construction cost.

• Project management and fiscal management are in need of review for experience, expertise and qualification.

The Third Street boat ramp is not going to remain! The drawing clearly states temporary location until a permanent location can be found. Not only is the ramp now a temporary location, it is also very difficult to use. The launch will be accessed via the parking structure ramp. You will travel down the ramp in a counter-clockwise direction and magically execute a clockwise turn near the end of the ramp. This is doable in a car, but very difficult in a truck with a boat behind. Assuming you get your boat launched, you then have the privilege of driving your truck and trailer to the other end of the park and walking back to your boat. Convenience is not a criteria of this design. It appears that for all practical purposes, the Third Street boat ramp is dying or dead.

The McEuen Park Project budget lists "Park Development, $2,194,780" ... about 15.4 percent of the project. The McEuen Park Project is under management of the park director and thus is a park project. Before assigning this project to parks, perhaps the city leaders should have applied the "duck" test. If it looks like a duck, quacks like a duck and walks like a duck, then it is probably a duck. This project is 84.6 percent parking and streets: If it looks like a parking garage, functions like a parking garage and costs like a parking garage, it is then most likely a parking garage. Prudent leadership would choose a project manager with experience in roads, parking structures, massive earth-moving and significant public works budgets ... not the director of parks.

An experienced project manager would most likely have brought on board a seasoned city planner and traffic engineer before taking the "park project" to the city council for approval. The project has considerable room for improvement, definition and cost efficiency and alternative designs all under the preview of the project manager and city council.

The website states there are currently 595 parking spaces and at the completion of the project there will be 620 parking spaces, for a net increase of 35 parking spaces. Downtown Coeur d'Alene does have parking issues and several studies have been commissioned in the past to address these issues. None of the studies suggested placing a parking garage between downtown and the lakefront. Since we are not adding significant parking, what is the cost to relocate parking? The website does not clarify if the total number of parking spaces includes or does not include the car and trailer spaces, so I have assumed they do. The east lot is scheduled to cost $323,950. The lot will park approximately 95 cars (I determined this by counting spaces on my computer screen; accuracy of my counts are not guaranteed) and 48 boat/trailer spaces. I deducted 143 spaces to be accommodated in the parking garage and the "unelevated" Front Street" at a cost of $11,727,402. The cost of each parking space is about $24,000. This cost might make sense on Manhattan Island, but Coeur d'Alene is not land locked. The east lot could park 192 cars at a cost of about $1,700 each space. Certainly parking options outside removing/rebuilding Front Street should be explored.

Part of the park project is to re-align the Centennial Trail. The current design has the trail cutting across the park in front of the new parking garage. The trail is scheduled to be put in a ditch (or dry moat) with two pedestrian bridges crossing over from the parking garage. The decision to dig a ditch for the trail is to reduce interference of cross traffic (obviously increased by the placement of the parking garage) at the cost of surrendering views of the lake for trail users. Proper planning could find a more desirable and less expensive solution.

The city council and mayor chose and approved the project designers and project manager. The project designers Miller/Stauffer Architect firm, aka "Team McEuen," is an architectural lead team. Architects are educated and trained to design buildings. The architects have a vested interest in this project since they are property owners who have property adjacent to the park and will likely benefit from the current design. Miller/Stauffer Architects, aka "Team McEuen," is charging $1,956,177 for their services plus re-imbursables and other fees already collected. Their effort needs a healthy dose of city planning before more fees are wasted. To date they are projecting we spend $12 million beyond their $1.95 million fee to relocate existing parking into a parking structure located directly between downtown and the lakefront, delete the Third Street boat ramp and construct a dry moat to prevent access from the parking garage to the park, not to mention the removal of a functional ball field. The only easy access to the park will be from the ends. The city council has given "Team McEuen" the go ahead to develop construction documents for this project. There must be considerably more design work completed and reviewed than is available on the website. The drawings being shared with the public are little more than schematic design and are in no way adequate to start compiling construction documents.

The design team and project manager are under the direct supervision of the mayor and council. Poor fiscal planning, inadequate fiscal management, pigeonhole design solutions and disregard for the well being of the city are a direct result of the actions and directions of the mayor and council. This project was started as a park redesign at the whim of the mayor and is resulting in a downtown redesign without any planning. Parking issues are parking issues and parks are parks. If what we want is to solve parking issues and redesign the park ,then let's do it properly. Look at the parking studies, use proper consultants, develop realistic plans and budgets and use a competent project manager. The city council and mayor, in my opinion, are outside of their expertise and are making choices with long-term detrimental effects for the city; and quite frankly are being stubborn. "That's my story and I'm sticking to it" might work in country-western songs, but it is disaster in government. When you make a mistake, initiate damage control, minimize the damage and correct your mistake. I believe we should abandon this project in its current form, minimize our losses and start over with a clear vision.

Dave Van Der Griend is a Coeur d'Alene resident.