Time running out on new city park for Kilgore

City councilmen must decide soon whether to keep or reject $50,000 worth of grant money for a new park they don't seem too keen to build, but the city manager presented an option Tuesday night that may keep the deal alive.

Kilgore won a 50/50 grant worth $100,000, with the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department that would provide cash reimbursement for $50,000, with the city providing cash and in-kind services to equal its half.

The original plan for the "Practice Fields at Synergy Park" is for multi-use fields for soccer, baseball and football, along with a pavilion, a washer court, picnic area, playground, and a walking trail with fitness stations, described as areas where people stop and exercise along the walking trail that outlines the perimeter of the park. The park is not affiliated with the industrial park though it would be built next to Synergy if approved by the council.

The multi-use practice fields would feature portable backstops that could be moved around to create baseball, soccer and/or football fields, but would not include scoreboards, seating or nighttime lighting.

Normally, TP&WD grants are site-specific, meaning the grant is only for the site presented with the proposal. However, Jeff Howell, city manager, told the council he recently visited with TP&WD officials in Austin and they are agreeable to moving the entire plan to Meadowbrook Park, provided it includes all of the amenities of the original plan.

Council members had expressed dissatisfaction with a new park next to Synergy Park because of heavy truck traffic and the fact that it would be located atop a former landfill and no type of excavation could be done, causing some concern about restroom construction.

Howell said if the city rejects the grant it won't be able to get another from the parks department for at least two years.

Meadowbrook Park consists of 26 acres, of which 20 acres are in use, according to Howell and B.J. Owen, director of Special Services. The park currently includes a soccer field, a baseball field with a backstop, a basketball court and two playground areas.

Owen said he has found places for additional practice fields that would involve no tree cutting and little or no dirt work. The only trees that will be cut are diseased or fallen, and only underbrush and stumps will be removed. However, the council noted the park has been known to flood from rainfall.

Janice Hancock, councilwoman, said she wasn't happy that the city would have to spend $10,500 to pay Planning Concepts of Tyler to administer the grant. Planning Concepts was the architect of the plan and presented the grant proposal to TP&WD. Howell had previously presented a park plan that did not win a grant.

Harvey McClendon, councilman, agreed, saying the city is only getting $50,000 from the state but will spend more than $10,000 to administer the grant.

Hancock said she worries the city starts projects that never seem to end and she wants a total cost estimate for any new park, including the cost of restrooms and paved parking, which are not amenities included in the TP&WD grant.

She noted the city is working on two parks already, MLK and Pentecost, and neither is completed. Owen countered that he had been in charge of the parks program for only two or three months and that it will take time, though a considerable amount of work at both parks has been accomplished in a short period, in his opinion.

Howell earlier asked the council to consider purchasing pre-fabricated restrooms for Meadowbrook Park and City Park using Kilgore Economic Development Corporation 4A(s) funding, of which $300,000 is set aside each year, but the council didn't seem keen on using any of the money for that purpose. The restrooms cost an average of $70,000, though they can cost considerably more depending on size.

(The council learned in a budget session following the meeting that the city will have $980,000 in the 4A(s) fund on Oct. 1, when the next fiscal year begins. The funds could also be used for the TP&WD grant, if the council approves.)

"I would hate to see the Texas Parks & Wildlife money go away, but without you saying that we can check into this move (to Meadowbrook), we can't make any plans," Owen said during the regular meeting.

Hancock said the Synergy Park deal "can go as far as I'm concerned, because we're not completing enough (projects) and it costs too much" but she agreed that Owen may present a cost estimate for the entire Meadowbrook Park proposal at the next council meeting.

If the city takes the grant, it has two years to complete the work and submit its receipts for reimbursement.