DOWAGIAC — The city of Dowagiac is moving forward with a plan for an upcoming park in the city.

Monday, during the Dowagiac City Council meeting, the council approved a resolution to authorize a professional services agreement with Wightman & Associates for design services related to the Cass Avenue Park Development Project.

“This project is finally starting to leave the station,” said Mayor Don Lyons at Monday’s meeting.

Last week, The Dowagiac City Council passed the Michigan Natural Resources Trust Fund on Monday to help fund the Cass Avenue Trailhead. The approval of Wightman for work on the park is the next step to making the park a reality, said Dowagiac City Manager Kevin Anderson.

The space for the park, which has been an empty lot for years, was bought by the city seven years ago. Since that time, the council has contemplated plans for the park, and eventually — around four years ago — drew up potential plans for the park. After a decision was made on which plan they were going with, the council applied for a grant to help fund the project. The total cost of the project will be around $300,000. Seventy-four percent of the project will be funded through the Michigan Natural Resources fund. The City of Dowagiac will contribute approximately $60,000 to the project.

The council said that choosing Wightman to work on the project was natural, as the firm has worked on a number of projects for the city of Dowagiac to much success.

Several council members offered praise for the team at Wightman.

“They do a good job,” said councilman Bob Schuur. “I do mean that.”

“They do such an awesome job, they always know we are looking at them,” added councilman Charles Burling.

The council expressed excitement about moving forward in the project and confidence that Wightman will handle the job well.

“By this time next year, we should see a hub of activity [at the park],” Anderson previously told the Dowagiac Daily News. “It’s going to have an open air pavilion, a parking lot, a fishing area [and] some picnic areas.”

Also Monday:

• The city council passed a resolution to authorize a professional services agreement with GHD for Annual Residential Well Sampling for the Nubour Street area. The vote was unanimous.

“This is the kind of expenditure you can expect to see year after year as we continue to monitor the former landfill that was there,” Anderson said. “We have not seen any increases or any movements of plume, but this is the kind of monitoring we have to do when we have an environmental liability.”