So, when he presented the Park, Beach and Recreation Commission with improvement plans at Walnut Beach, Ivers freely admitted the funding to do everything in the plan just isn't there.
"I feel strongly that this capital should be used to improve the park, but to go beyond the resources we have now, so that we have a strategy," Ivers said during the Wednesday night meeting in City Hall. "We don't want to be just sprucing up here and there."
Landscape architect Steven Wing presented his designs to the rec commission, noting that some elements, including a concession stand and first-aid station, will require additional funds.
One of the first things is to replace the dune crossings -- now narrow wooden bridges with steps on either end, with wider platforms accessed by ramps, he said.
An old chain-link fence will be replaced near the parking area, invasive plant species will be removed from the beachfront and the Meg Casey Pavilion, a roofed-over area with benches and picnic tables, will be refurbished, according to the plan.
The Walnut Beach Improvement Committee has been meeting for more than a year to develop a plan for using about $1 million in state bond funds in the neighborhood.
The committee, which includes Joseph Garbus, president of the neighborhood association, former Alderman Suzanne Manning and Walnut Beach business owners, approved Wing's plan last month.
But Garbus said that he doesn't think it wise to spend all of the money at the beach. He said that he'd like to see as much as $500,000 reserved for the Stowe Farm project, which includes converting a former dairy barn into a theater and rehearsal space.
The city-owned Stowe Farm has its own committee, which Garbus also serves on, and has retained an architect to design the barn theater.
"I feel that if we can get Stowe Farm operating, people can walk down to the beach from it. It is an integral part of what is going on down there," Garbus told the rec commission.
The money is needed to complete the construction blueprint, prepare bid documents and oversee the process of hiring a contractor, he said. It does not include the costs of converting the barn into performance space.
Wing and Ivers said that with completion of a boardwalk between Silver Sands State Park and Walnut Beach scheduled for November, the possibility exists for the first time in years to link the two neighborhoods.
Wing said that cabanas, a welcome booth and other amenities would be an improvement to what greets visitors to the city beach now.
"There are some folding chairs and an umbrella in the middle of the pavement," the architect said. "We'd like to build a proper welcome booth and set it in a (grass) esplanade."
Bike paths and a beach walk are also part of the Walnut Beach master plan, Ivers said.