In November 2016, the City of Rochester released a large document entitled “Soldiers Field Park Master Plan Outline.” This 42-page proposal, created with the assistance of two Minneapolis consulting firms, included four “Preliminary Concepts” for a possible redesign of the park.

One of those concepts retained the existing 18-hole golf course. Another shrunk the golf course to nine holes, while the other two eliminated golf entirely.

Six years later, we’re down to just three preliminary concepts — one with 18 holes, one with nine, one without golf — so that’s progress, right? At this rate, the actual work of redesigning and modernizing Soldiers Field Park will be completed the same year this year’s high school graduates start signing up for senior golf leagues.

Yes, we know that haste makes waste, and we don’t want Rochester to rush the planning for what could and should become the crown jewel in the city’s parks system. Few cities have a 140-acre chunk of green space so near downtown, and Rochester has the opportunity to create something truly remarkable on land that 98 years ago was a pasture. The city needs to get this right, and it needs to get it right the first time.

But there’s a difference between “Measure twice, cut once,” and paralysis by analysis.