Dateline: December 9, 2004

City seeking input on park improvements

By Roger Estlack, Clarendon Enterprise

The City of Clarendon is seeking input from the community and moving forward in the process of planning improvements at City Park following a public hearing last Wednesday evening at the Clarendon High School Auditorium.

Much of the discussion during the hearing centered on making improvements to the existing baseball fields in order to have better facilities for the community and for the high school teams.

“I know the school has an interest in the park for our teams, and as a parent I’m interested in seeing something done at the park,” said Clarendon ISD Superintendent Monty Hysinger.

An ad hoc committee of city, school, and economic development officials met twice prior to last week’s meeting to discuss proposed ideas for improvements.

“We’ve talked about a recreation complex with new ball fields, a walking trail, and a splash pad,” said City Administrator Sean Pate. “There would be something for everybody.”

Colby Waters of the Panhandle Regional Planning Commission (PRPC) gave an overview of two types of grants offered by the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department for which the city could apply.

A “Large Program Grant” provides up to $500,000 to renovate outdoor public recreation areas. The grant requires the city to have a master park plan and calls for a 50 percent match. Application deadlines are January 31 and July 31 of each year with awards made in August and January.

A “Small Communities Grant” provides up to $50,000 for ball fields, picnic facilities, playgrounds, and other items to communities with populations fewer than 20,000. This grant also requires a 50 percent match but does not require a master plan. Application must be made by January 31.

Funds and labor from the city and school as well as in-kind donations of labor and materials can be used for the match of the grant.

“Park grants are done on a competitive basis, and how successful you are depends on how everyone else in the state does,” Waters said. “You have started down the right path by getting several entities to work together.”

Waters said the 20 people who showed up at the hearing was a good indication of community support and said the PRPC can help the city with master planning and grant applications.

Hysinger said the condition of McClelland Field and of Hart-Moore Field are of immediate concern to the school.

“We can play softball on the Little League (Hart-Moore) field,” Hysinger said, “but we’d really like to see a true softball field, and I know a lot of parents are interested in helping. The dugouts (of McClelland Field) are also a big concern.”

Little League representative Stan Shelton asked if the volunteer hours put in by parents could be counted as in-kind match for the grants. Waters said that the Little League would need to keep detailed records about the volunteer work and that those efforts would benefit the grant application the most if they could be shown to be following some master plan for the area.

“If you can say (to the state), ‘We’ve done items one, two, and three, but we need your help with items four and five,’ that will be good,” Waters said.

Any improvements would have to be designed by an engineer, and all new equipment would have to meet the standards of the Americans with Disabilities Act, Waters said.

One course of action mentioned at the hearing was for the city to try to meet the January 31 deadline for a Small Communities Grant to fund improvements on one or more ball fields and then develop a master plan and apply for a Large Project Grant in July to fund other park improvements.

Other ideas put forth at the meeting were to create a plan that includes kids who aren’t just interested in sports and kids who live north of US 287 so they wouldn’t have to cross the highway in the summer.

The idea of building a skate park was revived again, and it was also suggested that Clarendon consider building an activity/recreation center similar to the one in Wellington.

CISD Athletic Director Gary Jack noted that the planned improvements could take many years to become reality, but he encouraged officials to move forward.

“It is definitely worth shooting for,” Jack said. “I’ve seen it happen before.”

City officials are asking citizens to fill out a survey found on page five of this week’s Enterprise to get their input on the proposed improvements.

The surveys are due back at City Hall by 5 p.m. on Friday, December 17, 2004.