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Last February, Beaumont City Council unanimously approved a $1,374,000 budget for park improvements, and during the June 27 City Council meeting, when it came time for final approvals to fund four area parks, several councilmen expressed opposition, ultimately approving two purchases and tabling two.
The proposed agenda items included upgrade and replacement of Charlton Pollard Park, a new installation for Babe Zaharias Park, replaced and upgraded equipment at Combest Park, and an upgrade and replacement at Central Park. With Charlton Pollard and Babe Zaharias parks grouped together on an agenda item, Councilman Mike Getz spoke up.
“I’m asking that we consider reallocating that funding for Babe Zaharias for a shelter at Rogers Park,” Getz urged. “Rogers Park is probably the most heavily utilized park in Beaumont, and currently there is a gazebo which is barely big enough for one picnic table. The west end of Beaumont only has three parks (Ward 2) and Rogers Park is in need of some care and help. There is no big demand to use playground equipment at Babe Zaharias Park and, in fact, the park is rarely used except on Sundays when you have people out there playing soccer.”
Pointing to $79,403.51 earmarked in the budget for the Babe Zaharias Park, Getz made reference to a recent structure added at Sprott Park in April, stating that he was certain the remaining amount could be found to fill the need for any funding that may not fully cover adding the Rogers Park pavilion. Keith Folsom, director of Facilities Maintenance, said he believed the Sprott Park pavilion to have cost approximately $150,000, but the exact number was not available at the meeting.
As discussion continued regarding the need for shelter at Rogers Park and the potential lack of use at the proposed Babe Zaharias Park, Director of Parks and Greenspace Kenneth Raggette agreed with Getz.
“I’m not pushing for Babe Zaharias to get a full playground, I think the money could be used somewhere else,” Raggette said, adding that hundreds of people visit Babe Zaharias Park on Sundays for soccer, but very few visit the park Monday through Saturday. Councilman AJ Turner agreed that Babe Zaharias Park is seldom used, and added Combest Park to the underutilized list, as well.
“I think it would be logical if we are going to provide funding that we would give it to the parks that are actually being utilized the most and then take care of the rest of them,” Turner said.
“I’m a bit concerned about just making decisions without having an assessment of cost, as well as the usage at each of the parks,” Councilman Audwin Samuel added. “We can continue to make knee jerk decisions just on an emotion, or we can do the job as it should be.”
Samuel said a major concern is getting the swimming pool back open, acknowledging that there may be a need for a pavilion at Roger’s Park, but that a quick decision would not be best. Samuel suggested bringing the Babe Zaharias portion of the budget back to the agenda to make an intelligent decision once more research was complete.
Charlton Pollard Park, located at 2060 Irving Ave., will receive upgraded replacement of its current playground at the cost of $112,966.49 from Kraftsman Commercial Playgrounds and Water Parks of Spring, Texas.
The Charlton Pollard Park purchase includes a playground unit for ages 2 to 12, a 9-foot web whirl rope climber, a two-seat retro rocker, two flower shaped bell style musical instruments with attached mallets and a xylophone style instrument with attached mallets. The project is projected to be ready for families to begin utilizing the new and improved Charlton Pollard Park this winter.
Central Park, located at 640 South 4th St., will receive new and upgraded play structure at a cost of $492,746.66 after the $191,776.34 grant discount awarded by GameTime/TRAPS. The new structure will replace Imagination Station, the castle-like playground originally installed over 40 years ago.
The new Central Park playground will be the Powerscape Modular unit by GameTime, complete with several structures surrounding the main play structure including a train-themed unit for toddlers, three sections with shaded benches, and several ADA compliant play areas and swings, the largest parks project in recent history.
Combest Park, located at 3395 Blackmon Lane, was presented with just a $45,667.70 price tag, but failed to garner council support as the council awaits word as to the park’s usage.
“My only problem with Combest Park being tabled is that we already tore that park down,” said Councilman Taylor Neild. “I just don’t think it’s fair to the community not to have something for that neighborhood, and I don’t see how you could scale that down any more than this.”
Turner questioned the actions of the parks committee tasked “to make decisions about these parks,” to which City Manager Kenneth Williams reminded council to be conscientious of the persons they appoint to city boards.
The council, as a whole agreed to approve Charlton Pollard Park, and table Babe Zaharias Park for two weeks, as they consider reallocating the funds. Due to the holiday, Beaumont City Council will not meet on July 4, but will resume regular meetings on Tuesday, July 11, at 1:30 p.m.