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Sidney’s Northside Park project earns federal funding
Sidney’s Northside Park was recently selected as a grantee of federal Land and Water Conservation Fund dollars totaling $600,000.
Thursday, January 30th 2025, 12:12 PM MST
Updated:
Sidney to get $600,000 grant from Land and Water Conservation Fund for park update
LINCOLN --Sidney’s Northside Park was recently selected as a grantee of federal Land and Water Conservation Fund dollars totaling $600,000. The Nebraska Game and Parks Commission recently approved the grantee list of recommended projects.
The City plans to revamp the park, updating equipment and constructing new facilities. The project will be funded by various grants, including the grant through the Land and Water Conservation Fund, distributed by the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission.
The grant will be used to remake the Northside Park. The City's plans for the park include all-inclusive play areas and paths, and a splash-pad.
Sidney City Manager David Scott said upgrading the Northside Park is a project that started a few years ago.
"It's a project that was identified probably a couple years ago, if not longer, by the city council in their five-year Strategic Plan. They've been talking about it ever since," Scott said.
He said city officials knew the project would take significant investment to do it correctly.
"We did decide to start applying for some grants to see if there's anything out there. Super excited that the Game and Parks came through for $600 grand with us, but before we submitted that grant application I think what probably made it successful was that I talked to some communities who submitted just the request with no percentage of engineering or cost estimates," Scott said.
They contracted with Brickyard Consulting Inc. out of Gering. Brickyard did the architectural drawings of the project, he said.
"The need over there is so great for something like that. It's a perfect spot. The park is really very large. It always felt to me and apparently to the city council as well, that it was very kind of sporadically put together," he said.
He said the park design will be all-inclusive, welcoming people of all mobility levels.
Economic Development Director Brandy Stone said she is applying for two more grants for the park project. The grants are due in mid-February. Total cost of the park project is estimated at $1.5 million, Stone said.
Funding comes from the LWCF comes from the U.S. Department of the Interior using revenues from federal oil and gas leases on the Outer Continental Shelf.