What you need to know:

• An overhaul of Nunley Park in Wasilla must go through an official planning and public input process before city officials make any more changes, according to a resolution approved by the City Council on Monday. 
• The plan must be presented to the City Council by late June. Officials said they will seek public comment on the design proposal during the city’s Fourth of July festivities. 
• The mid-February removal of about 50 trees from the park without public or council input or notice sparked outrage among City Council members. The clear-cutting was intended to make way for new lighting planned for the area. Other planned improvements included new playground equipment and updated community garden boxes. 

WASILLA - An overhaul of Wasilla's Nunley Park must now go through an official design and public feedback process before moving forward after clear-cutting at the park sparked outrage among city council members last month.

Located directly across the street from Wasilla City Hall, the 2.2-acre park was originally slated for a series of summer improvements, including parking lot upgrades, lighting changes and new playground equipment.

But the Wasilla City Council put those changes on hold earlier this month after members said they were blindsided by the removal of about 50 trees to make room for light-pole installation.

A resolution unanimously approved at a council meeting Monday directs public works officials to instead hire a park design contractor and return to the council with an improvement plan by the end of June.

City officials plan to gather public comment on the plan during Wasilla's annual Fourth of July parade and celebration, which brings a large influx of visitors to downtown and Nunley Park.

Any new park improvements are now slated to restart after the plan receives city council approval, officials said.

“What happened is absolutely unacceptable,” Council Member Stuart Graham told city officials during a heated exchange about the park at a City Council meeting late last month. “We have taken and destroyed a city park. We have made it completely unusable for the very people that wanted it the most.”

Graham said he received dozens of calls from community members complaining about the tree removals. Council members said dramatic changes to any city-run park should go through an official input process that includes members of the public, the Parks and Recreation Commission and the City Council.

The Nunley Park updates were originally planned in response to a request for more lighting and related safety improvements first made by Graham. But removing all the trees to make way for the project was well beyond the scope of that request, Graham said during the February meeting.

Wasilla Mayor Glenda Ledford said she directed the tree clearing as part of the project. She said not notifying the council of the plan was an inadvertent oversight.

“It was not malicious intent by any means,” she said during the meeting last month. “I can't take it back. I can't put the trees back – but lesson learned, that’s all I can say.”

Overhaul plans developed by the city's Public Works Department and now on hold called for new swings and playground equipment, adding 10 new community garden beds, updating existing beds and installing lighting in the center of the park in an area previously occupied by trees, Public Works Director Erich Shaal said in an interview last month.

The plan also included rehoming the red "Wasilla Railroad" caboose, which Shaal said is a safety hazard due to lead paint, asbestos-containing parts and a lack of railings.

The caboose is a Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway car originally brought to the as part of a 1990s McDonald's marketing gimmick. It is currently blocked off with orange construction netting and barriers.

Schaal said hiring a designer to lead the park project will help ensure that park plans are shared with everyone who needs to see them.

“I think it makes sense to have support in the form of a consultant that helps design parks and makes the illustrations and the design drawings,” he said during the council meeting Monday.

-- Contact Amy Bushatz at contact@matsusentinel.com