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With major park improvements on the horizon, Grand Coulee wants to address the issue of vandalism at Shane Proctor Park. 

The park between the gas station and the Mexican restaurant on SR-174 has experienced numerous incidents of vandalism in recent months, including someone breaking the seats on the see-saws, and trashing the restroom.

Since The Star reported on these incidents in May, the restroom has been trashed multiple times, leading to the city simply locking and closing the restroom. 

Mayor Paul Townsend said the city is looking into security system options for the park to address the issue, including security cameras positioned around the park, to “figure out when (the vandalism) is happening and discourage it from happening.”

“It disturbs me that we have that type of element in our town that’s so destructive,” he said. “The legal system does not address this well.”

Townsend explained that they want to get the security system established before major improvements are made at the park.

The city is being awarded $162,000 for park improvements from the Ephrata-based Paul Lauzier Foundation.

“The last thing we want to do is put in new equipment and have it get destroyed.” Townsend said. 

Beginning in 2022, improvements to the park are to include bringing it up to federal standards for handicapped access, a new playground surface, new playground equipment, and a half-court basketball court.