City provides park project updates

City provides park project updates News Staff Wed, 06/05/2024 - 1:37 pm

• THOMAS WALLNER | THE GRAHAM LEADER City Manager Eric Garretty (center) speaks with the Graham Parks Department Board of Directors regarding parks project updates during their meeting Tuesday, May 28.

Thomas Wallner editor@grahamleader.com

The Graham Parks Department Board of Directors presented updates last week to several projects in city parks, with many seeing progress but impacted by various stopgaps.

City Manager Eric Garretty and Jacob and Martin Civil Engineer Tristan King presented updates to projects at multiple parks during the meeting Tuesday, May 28.

The new playground equipment at Firemen’s Park, which was completed last year, is awaiting parking, lights and sidewalks before the city hosts a ribbon cutting ceremony. The lighting has been installed and the city is awaiting Oncor to activate the lights and stripe the backside of the parking spaces.

While construction of the dog parks is completed, the city is still working to improve drainage at the small and large dog parks at Firemen’s Park. The city is inviting the community and their dogs to a ribbon cutting for the new amenity at 6 p.m. Monday, June 10.

“We will need some input in a future (parks) meeting about any interior features, rock features or something so there’s just not a plain, grassy area out there,” Garretty said.

After renovation of the bathroom at Firemen’s Park, one of the toilet seats was vandalized and the city is looking to install cameras.

“It’s about $60,000,” Parks Board President and Mayor Alex Heartfield said. “…We looked at using general fund money for that. One option could be to use the Park Improvement Fund, which will have about a half-a-million dollars to fund that.”
The board will have to take action at a future meeting if they will use the improvement fund for the cameras.

One of the expanded amenities at Firemen’s Park is for disc golf. The board previously approved expanding from nine holes to 18.

“The construction contract is signed, it’s just short of $50,000. Due to vendor availability, construction will not begin until mid-September 2024. But we’ve at least gotten to the point where the contracts are signed,” Garretty said. “...Just because of the timing (the vendor) had other projects that he had to work on.”

In 2020 and 2021, the city applied for a Recreational Trails and Local Park grant through TPWD to extend the scope of the existing money they received for park improvements in 2018 from the Brazos River Authority (BRA).

The city was awarded matching grant funding from TPWD in May 2021 after a decision was approved by the commission for the department. Garretty said the trails project is still being held up by a historical assessment.

“The money’s there, the plan is there, ...(but) we’re still waiting on what I’m calling a feedback assessment from the Texas Historical Commission and the Parks and Wildlife folks on what they discovered when they did their archaeological survey,” he said. “There were signs of an old structure there. They said (it is a) grist mill, or something like that. It would have to be evaluated and they evaluate in their own time. …Worst case for us, Tristan (King) and his folks may have to modify the trail plan to mitigate for that historical area.”

Another trails program the city is looking into would connect Firemen’s Park to Shawnee Park. The city is seeking a Texas Department of Transportation grant through its Transportation Alternatives program.

“We’re working now with our TxDOT rep and various folks that we deal with to develop a proposal to submit. ...They’ll make the call for proposals right before Christmas time,” Garretty said. “This year, they’ll evaluate them in the spring, but... the federal funds... could be available as early as October 2025, or they might not be available until the calendar year 2026.”

If they are not awarded the grant, the city manager said they will look at other funding sources or utilizing the BRA funding in a scaled back form.

The city was denied parks grant funding from TPWD for the recent grant cycle and are working to get an updated parks master plan to help with their scoring for the next cycle. The parks master plan will be part of the city’s comprehensive plan, which has not been updated since 2013.

“(A comprehensive plan) is the community gathering together and putting down on paper, ‘This is how we would like to see our community be sustained and grow,’” Garretty said.

Included in the comprehensive plan will be the major initiatives the city wants to focus on for the future, including park plans.

“That would include, like in the new space, reserving space for parks. As that develops out, do we want to reserve green space for pocket parks (and) all those kinds of things,” Garretty said. “The (parks board representatives) that sit on this committee, in addition to being the primary developers of the parks master plan to present back to this committee and then ultimately the city council, you’re also the voice for parks.”

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