Upgrades planned for I.C.’s Trueblood park

IOWA CITY - The City Council is expected to move forward tonight on a plan to add a lodge and other features to the Terry Trueblood Recreation Area.

“Our park lodge is something we can rent,” city Parks and Recreation Director Mike Moran said. “It will be weddings, receptions, mini-conferences.”

Construction to add the lodge, more parking, canoe and fishing jetties and a nature playground is expected to start later in the spring. Moran said this third phase of development at the park will be complete in about a year.

“It gives kids something to do around here,” said Carole Roberson, an Iowa City resident who said she uses the park's concrete paths on a daily basis. “My kids growing up always ran out of stuff to do.”

Roberson said promoting fishing and canoeing in Iowa City is a good idea.

“They always had Lake Macbride to canoe and stuff - this will be close to home,” she said.

This phase of the project will cost an estimated $3.7 million. It will be paid for with state grants, bond proceeds and private contributions.

To read the full 2010 master construction plan, click

here.