Improvements to be made on two city parks

Kirk Jenkins, who works in the city's Building Maintenance Department, sprays red paint on a piece of playground equipment at Martin Luther King Jr. Park, which is undergoing extensive renovations. City officials plan to dedicate the park, formerly known as South Street Park, on MLK Jr. Day in January 2010. Councilmen discussed deadlines for improvements to two city parks and agreed to go forward with plans for a third during a parks workshop Tuesday night after the regular council meeting.

The council agreed Martin Luther King Jr. Park and Pentecost Park improvements should be made before all others, but in the meanwhile the city will also work to get its Texas Parks & Wildlife Department grant moved from the original site near Synergy Park to Meadowbrook Park and, if and when approved by the state, begin work on that park, as well.

B.J. Owen, director of Special Services for the city, has taken over parks director duties and several on the council praised the progress they have seen in the past few weeks.

Per a plan Owen handed out at the workshop, the basic goal for each city park is "To make this space attractive and user friendly to the surrounding neighborhood and community."

The council agreed January is the absolute deadline to complete work at MLK Jr. Park, formerly South Street Park, in order to hold a park dedication on Martin Luther King Jr. Day in 2010.

Since new restrooms were installed at MLK earlier this year, several improvements have been completed, Owen said. Last week, new playground equipment that had sat in storage for a couple years was finally installed and this week city workers have been busy painting the existing playground equipment.

The city has leased the former Gregg County community building at MLK and workers have been busy patching holes and painting the interior, stripping and waxing floors and making ceiling repairs. Owen said a new central heat and air conditioning unit is now in place and workers will continue to update the interior of the building as needed.

Outside, future additions include a paved walking trail, a drinking fountain, benches and trash cans beside the basketball court, and more lighting. City employees will soon tear down a dilapidated barbecue pit near the community center.

Workers from the street department will pave the walking trail and improve the existing parking lot as soon as their ongoing street paving projects slow down during the fall and winter.

Jeff Howell, city manager, said crews have cleaned debris and growth from the chain-link fence at the rear of the property and the only job that will be subcontracted is for fence repair.

"It's coming together," Owen told the council.

MARCH IS the deadline for completing improvements at Pentecost Park, and Owen said he felt all of the work there will actually be done by December or January. Owen describes Pentecost as a "gateway" to the city because it is visible to traffic on Hwy. 259.

Last month Kilgore Economic Development Corporation's board of directors approved the city's request for $46,460 from its fund for "quality of life" projects and the money becomes available to the city on Oct. 19, which is 60 days from the date it was approved, per state statute.

The money will be used for several amenities, including a small parking area with 8 to 12 spaces on a lot the city acquired through trade with another landowner. At present, parking has been available only along the street. The city will recycle asphalt from the ongoing Kirkwood Addition street project and use it as a base for the parking lot and then top it with new asphalt, Owen said.

Other amenities that the KEDC cash will buy are lighting, another larger pavilion, a drinking fountain, playground equipment, fall protection for the playground and electrical outlets. City employees will also add fencing at the rear next to a wooded area, clear all available land, and remove cross ties around the playground and replace them with new plastic borders, which are safer.

OWEN OUTLINED plans for the Harris Street and Lantrip Street parks, as well, for the 2009-10 fiscal year but these were not discussed Tuesday night.

Owen said he felt all of these goals could be accomplished during the coming year with the council's approval and financial support.

Among the goals for Harris Street, pending council approval: add new and hopefully more colorful landscaping in existing beds; replace cross ties with landscaping pavers; plant crape myrtles around the Driller Park fence; extend landscaping beds around the parking area and add landscaping around the playground area and add fall protection; and remove posts sticking out of the ground.

Goals for Lantrip include: adding decorative lighting; replacing existing bridges; installing fitness stations along the existing concrete walking trail/sidewalk; and adding decorative benches and trash cans.