BUTTE – The future use of the Silver Bow Creek corridor running through the Mining City is in the hands of a group of citizens.
“I’m optimistic about the product we’re getting at here,” said workshop participant Evan Barrett.
The second workshop gathered feedback from the public on how they want to restore this corridor along Silver Bow Creek once the Superfund mine waste cleanup and remediation is completed over the next four years.
“We’re talking about what’s going to be on the surface after all of that work is done and that’s about making sure we have end-land uses that are compatible to remedy, but also things the public wants to see there and will be an amenity for them in the future,” said event organizer Julia Crain.
A landscape architect out of Billings took the feedback from the Aug. 7th workshop and presented a rough design for the public to hone during this second workshop.
“We gathered that and compiled it and we developed a program that we felt like the community wanted that was centered around passive recreation for the development of the site,” said Stacey Robinson.
The portion of the Silver Bow Creek corridor might someday have a pavilion for picnics, or a play area for children, maybe even an amphitheater.
There’s no shortage of ideas and the architect that’s been hired to come up with a master plan said he is impressed with the amount of public engagement from the community.
“It’s been awesome, seriously, the meeting on the 7th we had great participation, had good turnout, but the engagement by the community’s been really great,” Robinson.
A third workshop is being planned for some time in October to reveal the master plan.
