MARIETTA - The divided Marietta City Council will once again try to reach consensus on how to divide up a proposed $25 million for city parks and facilities at a special meeting Wednesday.

The council voted 4-3, Aug. 12 with Philip Goldstein, Annette Lewis and the Rev. Anthony Coleman opposed, to put a $25 million parks bond on the Nov. 3 ballot.

Since the ballot will just have a general question about whether voters want to approve the bond, the council is now working on a list of how the $25 million would be spent - a list the city can present to the public in brochure form prior to the election.

The latest proposal from Councilwoman Holly Walquist, who spearheaded the parks bond, is to break that $25 million into: $5 million for land acquisition; $11 million for improvements to existing parks and facilities; $5 million for the development of new and existing parks, facilities and trails; and $4 million for planning and design costs.

Walquist said the original bond was set at $30 million, but after feedback from the community, council reduced it by $5 million.

"Over the past several days, we have been taking a hard look at the list to see where we could make cuts and come up with an itemized plan that would be acceptable to the council. As a result, I am proposing that we make significant cuts to the funding for improvements to Burruss, Wildwood and Custer parks, as well as Aviation Sports Complex," she said.

Walquist said her proposal is just a draft for the full council to discuss Wednesday.

But Mayor Bill Dunaway said the list is specific enough for him to vote in favor of the bond on Nov. 3.

"I think it's a very fair representation of how the money should be spent as far I'm personally concerned," Dunaway said Monday.

Of the $11 million Walquist would spend on existing city parks and facilities, the Elizabeth Porter Recreation Center would receive the most at $3.75 million. The center is located on 1.8 acres on Montgomery Street between Cole and Allgood streets. It opened in the 1950s as a hospital for black residents. The building currently houses a full basketball court, game room with pool tables, small library for arts and crafts, and a space for small community meetings. The city employees two and a half people at the center, which functions much like a Boys and Girls Club, with a homework period after school, time for youth and adult basketball, an outside playground and two tennis courts. Attendance is free, said Rich Buss, the city's parks director.

Dunaway wants the old building razed, and a large community center, complete with aquatic facility, built in its place. The location is ideal because it is centrally located in the city, Dunaway said. Moreover, the city owns a parcel of land nearby for expansion purposes, he said.

Another center that would benefit is the Lawrence Street Community Center, which sits on 2.1 acres near the Hanley-Shelton Funeral Home. Walquist earmarks $1.1 million for the Lawrence Center's improvements.

The center is similar to the Porter site, Buss said, with two and a half city employees on staff, a full gym, an outside playground and a pool that doesn't work. The center was where black residents went to swim during segregation

Dunaway said the problem with the Lawrence site is that there is no room to expand its 30-space parking lot. So while he supports making improvements to the building, if the city were to build an aquatic center, the Porter site would be the better spot.

Walquist's latest draft drastically decreases funding for the controversial 28-acre Wildwood Park on Barclay Circle and the nearby 45.6-acre Burruss Nature Park on South Cobb Drive - two parks that have been popular destination points for illicit activities for decades. Walquist cuts funding for Burruss from the June draft amount of $1.2 million to $250,000. She slashes Wildwood funding from the June draft amount of $1.8 million to $300,000.

The meeting is scheduled for 5:15 p.m. Wednesday in the fourth floor conference room of City Hall, located at 205 Lawrence Street in Marietta.