City parks facilities to expand

Wednesday, March 6, 2002

The city of Mountain Home, known for its extensive parks system, will be expanding its recreational facilities this spring.

Stan Franks, head of the city's Parks and Recreation Department, has a long list of projects for this year that he hopes to accomplish, despite tight budgets at the city level.

"There's a million things going on around here," Franks said as he and his crews gear up for another season. "We're working on a lot of things this year."

The newest addition to the pantheon of parks is being created on land provided by developer Jerry Anderson in the southwest part of town.

Snaking its way between the new Ridgecrest and old Sunrise subdivisions, the four-acre park provides a much-needed recreational facility in that part of town.

The park will feature an eight-foot wide pathway running from Fifth West to Twelth South streets "that will be nice for skatebording, roller blading, walking and bikes," Franks said.

The park also will boast a waterfall and a small plaground with a slide, climbing features and a "serpent looking thing" climbing toy, Franks said.

The playground equipment is the final project of the Slide Into the Future Project, a program launched several years ago by a group of homemakers who decided to raise money to install new playground equipment in the city parks. The equipment in Richard Aguirre Park was their major donation to the city, but they also provided some new equipment at Carl Miller Park as well. The equipment at the new park is similar to that at Carl Miller.

"They had about $10,000 left, which doesn't go that far," Franks said, "but it's going to be a cute little thing" as soon as the weather clears up enough for the equipment to be installed.

"I think people are really going to like this."

Franks and the city also have been listening to their younger patrons and plans to install some basic skateboard trick areas at Carl Miller and Richard Aguirre.

Budget permitting, this year, the city will place a 50'x50' concrete slab in Carl Miller Park, in front of the fireplace area, that will feature four small skateboard component pieces, such as ramps and rails. Franks said the location should not interfere with activities in the park and is being put in a site where his crews have had difficulty keeping grass growing. A similar facility is planned in Richard Aguirre Park, but budget constraints will probably push that into future years.

The skateboard pad area will cost about $10,000. Area skateboarding youths have raised about $1,000 to help toward that cost.

Franks said the facility should be safer and less troublesome for area residents by getting the skateboarders off the streets and into the parks. "I think they're really going to like this," he said.

The old Optimist/Centennial Park, off Fifth West Street, also is scheduled for additional upgrades. Franks eventually plans to add three softball fields to that park, to help with the growing demand for adult recreation baseball diamonds in the city. This year the area for those ballfields will be graded, a sprinkler system installed and the fields planted. They should be available for use next year if all plans can be funded.

Franks also said the city hopes to organize a rodeo, a motocross and a bike race at Optimist Park this year during AFAD weekend, to provide additional activities in the evening for the day-long celebration.

Also on the board for work this year is the beginning of the city's bike path plan, which eventually will create a bike path from Legacy Park to 18th Street to the Visitor's Center. This year the intial 1.2 miles of that path are expected to be built using a state Department of Transportation grant that pays 88 percent of the project. The city will pay about $10,000 for its share.

The route already is used by a number of walkers and joggers. By expanding the roadbed to create the path a safer route is being created. Franks said the project "has been the most comprehensive project I've ever been involved in. When you're working with IDT, they require more paperwork than you can believe."

The project will be built in stages as funding becomes available, but is part of a long-range bike path development plan created by the city.

Respond to this story

Posting a comment requires free registration: