Undermined? Webb City’s plans for Sucker Flats may have to wait

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September 30, 2009

Anonymous The Joplin Globe Wed Sep 30, 2009, 12:52 AM CDT

By Emily Younker

eyounker@joplinglobe.com

WEBB CITY, Mo. — Grand designs for Sucker Flats may have been undermined by news Tuesday that the Environmental Protection Agency may not need the water-filled pit for storing mine waste after all.

Parks Department Director Tom Reeder said the plan had been to fill Sucker Flats with waste from the cleanup of mining land between Webb City and Carterville, and then cover the site with eight to 10 inches of topsoil. That soil was to come from a hole to be dug near the back of the park, which would create a small pond.

Mayor John Biggs on Tuesday acknowledged the possibility that there might not be enough mine waste to fill the pit.

“If it should turn out they don’t have enough fill to fill it, we would just keep it (Sucker Flats), and we could landscape the edges and do some neat things,” Biggs said. “(But) I’ve been assured numerous times by the EPA that they’re going to have plenty of fill.”

Biggs said several new roads also are tied to the project. The EPA builds roads to move materials into and out of its sites. Once the work is complete, the roads belong to the city, which would only have to pave and curb them.

Reeder said there was no set timeline for the Sucker Flats project. He estimated that even if work on filling the pit began in the next few months, the project would take two years to complete, and the city would have to wait at least two more years for the land to settle before building on it.

But when complete, the project would reclaim about 23 acres for King Jack Park. Reeder said he hopes to eventually build pavilions on the land and hold festivals there.

Sucker Flats currently doesn’t offer much to the park, Reeder said. Signs prohibit fishing; swimming is not encouraged because of the steep slopes, which can prevent people from getting down to the water and from getting back up.

Reeder also said Sucker Flats isn’t as scenic as it could be.

“I see people stop to look at the water for two or three minutes of time, and then they move on,” he said. “It is a beautiful spot to look at, but other than looking at it, it’s not that useful.”

Reeder said he personally favored keeping Sucker Flats as it is, at least initially. What changed his mind was his vision for the park’s future.

“Initially you hate to lose something that you have when you’re trying to weigh what the possible benefits are,” he said. “It wasn’t until I really sat down and really weighed the benefits on both sides (that) I came to the conclusion that it would be best (to fill it in).”

Reeder said the project would be a gain for the city as well as for the park.

“If I have a finite area of land (in Webb City parks), how can I best serve the population as a whole?” he said. “I want people to be able to say, ‘You know, I don’t know what this guy’s name was, but he must have loved this park.’”

Not everyone wants to see the pit filled. Loyd Combs, a Joplin resident who lived in the Oakland community south of Webb City for 43 years, said he would like to see Sucker Flats developed as a lake.

“I think they have a definite asset in a 20-acre lake if they would go ahead and develop it, clear brush out, put steps down to it, put a water fountain in it,” Combs said. “If you fill that in, you just have more ground. ... If that lake turns into a pile of dirt, it would be a shame.”

Combs, who owns property in Webb City, served on the city’s park board before he moved to Joplin in 1999. When the city built the amphitheater in King Jack Park, the project was put to a vote by Webb City residents, who approved it. Combs said the same thing should be done with any decision to fill in Sucker Flats.

Combs said he doesn’t want to see anything done with Sucker Flats because of its historical importance to the city.

“Webb City has a great future, but they could make better use of the past because they are a historical town,” Combs said. “Sucker Flats is a definite reminder and tells a great story of the mining days.”

Sucker Flats

Webb City historian Jeanne Newby said the earliest evidence of Sucker Flats dates to an 1882 photo belonging to the Chamber of Commerce. The photo shows bags of ore, likely lead and zinc, being prepared for shipment.

Mining at Sucker Flats stopped in 1919, Newby said. In late 1942, the land was deeded to Mike Evans, about whom Newby had no further information.

In January 1943, Evans brought in “experts from the West” to dig up the mine and obtain remaining ore, Newby said. It was that dig that created the pit that exists today.