Soon water will be flowing again at Crystal Beach Lake.
More than just flowing, it will even be sprouting up into the air.
Because as soon as the lake is refilled from the recent dredging project, two new lighted “peacock” fountains will be placed in the northern portion of the lake, City Manager Alan Riffel said during a presentation to the Woodward Parks and Beautification Board Tuesday morning.
The fountains are part of ongoing renovations at Crystal Beach Park and as well as an effort to create a better habitat for fish at the lake.
In addition to the two fountains, six aerators will be placed beneath the surface near the western edge of the lake to help keep the water properly oxygenated. The fountains and the aerators are being put in place to help prevent algae growth that leads to fish kills like the one this past May, where dead carp washed up along the banks of the lake.
Riffel said that the new fountains can be put in place within a couple of days after the lake is full again.
However, he said it is likely to “take the better part of a month for the lake to refill.”
The lake was drained last month to allow for the removal of silt from the bottom of the lake, which hadn’t been done in a number of years, Riffel said. He noted that “we removed several hundred thousand cubic feet of silt,” which basically “took it down four feet.”
The city manager said it took “around 546 semi loads and 150 loads in our dump truck” to remove all that silt.
Even before the new peacock fountains are installed, though, another new fountain can be seen at the park.
Riffel said the process is under way to redesign the fountain at the artesian well that feeds the lake.
Instead of just having the water bubble up out of a pipe like it has for so many years, a company called LandFX has a landscaping plan using to create a new four-sided waterfall-like fountain that flows into a pooling area before continuing on to the lake, he said.
Work on the waterfall fountain area could begin as early as next week, Riffel said.
Currently water from the well is being redirected down a different pipe so that the lake can still refill while the area around where the new waterfall is being placed dries, he said.
Once construction starts, the city manager said it will only take about a week to complete, which means it could be operational by Thanksgiving.
Riffel also briefly discussed other ongoing construction projects at Crystal Beach, including parking and roadway projects and progress at Fuller Park
He said milling of the street around the park will probably be put off until after the first of next year, since it would otherwise interfere with Crystal Christmas which is already being reduced this year due to other construction at the park..
As far as Fuller Park goes, he said that things are continuing to take shape and it should be “complete by the end of next month.”“We’re 30 to 45 days away from having that finished, which is in good time for the ball seasons that are upcoming,” Riffle said.
Board members also took some time to discuss the other parks in Woodward, which board member Dr. Walter Gadberry said he would like to see a master plan developed for as well.
The board members viewed photos of the various parks throughout Woodward, mainly various different neighborhood playgrounds, some of which some of the board members didn’t even know about. After looking at the photos, Gadberry was even more adamant about the fact that they need to be upgraded as well.
A number of his fellow board members agreed and they will visit some of the parks personally before the next monthly board meeting and begin identifying priority areas so that they can take the first steps toward creating a master plan.
