Bartlesville Radio: The area’s best source for news, weather and sports!

The Green at Unity Square project in Bartlesville has many working pieces that the Tower Green Design Committee discussed on Wednesday. Among the items mentioned Wednesday was the possibility of placing a water feature in the final construction plans.

City Councilman Jim Curd said that the water feature was never promised. He does say a splash pad of some sort would be an intriguing part to The Green at Unity Square space. A water feature in the future park area between the Price Tower and the Community Center will make it more of a city park to Curd. That, Curd says, is the most important apart about putting in this new gem in the heart of Bartlesville's downtown area because it will include everyone and it will attract everybody.

The Committee overall seemed to favor a water feature being put into place at The Green at Unity Square. Curd says if they want to put in a splash pad in the area, they could raise money to put in that feature if they don't have the money to go towards it right away. The Bartlesville City Council has had intentions of putting in a splash pad at Johnstone Park instead. Curd says they will have to discuss this further and bring it to the attention of the City Council later on down the road.

Also in the Tower Green Design Committee meeting Wednesday, the members discussed the stage area to be put in place. Scott Ambler with Ambler Architects says a preliminary bid for the steel beams to hold up the stage is about $83,000. The cover for that stage should have the undercarriage painted a bronze color to match the sandstone to be used for part of the stage design. That same color will also match the bronze color of the Community Center.

Lighting was heavily discussed. Ambler mentioned different lighting features that can go into the ground and be strapped to trees. They could possibly use wet location LED strip lights for the existing fountain near the Community Center and the benches they plan on installing around The Green at Unity Square. Outlets will be installed at the base of some trees for people to use as well.

Trees and plants were discussed in the meeting too. Ambler says 100-percent of the trees and plants will be native to Oklahoma.

They hope construction for the project will start in early April. Jones Plan LLC out of Tulsa was also in attendance during Wednesday's meeting to listen in. Ambler says they are 60-percent complete with their final designs. As for the next Tower Green Design Committee meeting, a date is still to be determined.