The El Dorado Parks and Playgrounds Commission is still working to finalize plans for improvements to city parks and to put together a funding request to present to the El Dorado Works Board.
Commissioners said that once they wrap up the effort, they will then hone in on ideas local residents have suggested to make accommodations at city parks for sports such as pickleball and disc golf.
The EPPC has been working on the improvement plan for two years, starting with a tour of city parks in the fall of 2018 and soliciting public feedback in 2018 and 2019.
While the details have taken shape, efforts to finalize the plan this year have been hindered by delays, including the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, which suspended commission meetings for much of 2020.
The EPPC had planned to convene Aug. 25 for its first regular meeting since February but the lack of a quorum prompted commissioners to reschedule the meeting to Aug. 27.
Then, inclement weather struck. Hurricane Laura brought heavy rains and high winds to the area and forced the commission to cancel the August meeting.
Commissioners finally regrouped in late September and after a lengthy discussion, they agreed with chairman Ken Goudy, who suggested that they draft the plan, schedule another meeting for a final review and then present it to the El Dorado Works Board, which administers the 1-cent city sales tax that is directed toward economic development, municipal infrastructure and quality-of-life projects.
Fifteen percent of tax revenue is dedicated to community development projects.
Of the 15%, 6% is dedicated to parks and playgrounds, including sports, recreational and outdoor venues and projects.
“If we get it approved, then the (El Dorado City Council) has to sign off on it and then we’ll have the money to go,” Goudy said.
As it stands the now, the plan calls for the addition of public restrooms to at least three city parks; renovation of existing or construction of new restrooms/changing rooms at the Mattocks Park swimming pool; expansion of the basketball courts in Mattocks Park; resurfacing the tennis courts in Mellor Park; a new workshop at Lions Club Municipal Golf Course; and the addition of picnic tables, BBQ grills, benches, pavilions and more to city parks.
On Feb. 25, Robert Edmonds, director of public works, presented bids that had come in for some of the work and he told commissioners that he was still awaiting cost estimates for other components of the project.
Edmonds reported then that bids for the restrooms came in at $20,000 apiece and bids for pavilions were $8,000 apiece.
Cost estimates for “no-bid items,” including benches and grills, were approximately $500 apiece, including installation, Edmonds said.
“The tennis courts, we’re still trying to get an estimate from the tennis court people,” he told commissioners.
On Sept. 22, Goudy asked if the items had to be re-bid.
“I don’t think so. Every bid we’ve got should still be good … All those bids, all those prices should still be good,” Edmonds said.
Goudy inquired about bids for tennis court improvements and Edmonds said he still needed to seek out prices for the work, telling commissioners, “I guess that’s the last component.”
Goudy said commissioners also needed to factor in money to repair the irrigation system.
“That watering system is 30-something years old and we’re starting to have a lot of problems with it … If we could get monies allocated back towards offsetting some of that cost, because that’s going to continue on to the point where we’re really going to have to replace that,” Goudy said.
Danny Carelock, manager of the Lions Club golf course asked who is going to maintain the restrooms once they are built at city parks and Edmonds said city’s parks maintenance crew.
Carelock, who previously informed the EPPC about vandalism in the public restrooms on the north end of the golf course, asked if city crews could also maintain the restrooms there.
The restrooms also serve the recreational trail that surrounds the golf course, the Union County Fairgrounds and the El Dorado School District soccer fields and Carelock said he believes the problem stems from people who use the trail, rather than the golfers.
Edmonds said city crews could take on the responsibility of maintaining the LCMGC restrooms.
Goudy said the commission is trying to make city parks “as family friendly as we possibly can” with the improvement plan.
“Once we kind of get it all together, before we go to the El Dorado Works Board, we’ll meet and everybody can review it in case we need to add something to it,” he said.
Added Commissioner Alexis Alexander, “And the sooner we can do it, the better, because I just kind of fear that we’ll lose our chance to get money if we don’t hop on it soon.”
Other ideas
Alexander referred to a request from an area resident who previously asked the commission to consider opening a local disc golf course.
In disc golf, players throw a plastic disc, similar to a frisbee, into metal baskets that are set up throughout an outdoor course.
The object of the game is to complete the course with the fewest possible throws.
“My only question is where would we locate it because he says it takes about an acre per hole so I don’t know if we’ve got 18 acres or 27 acres.” Goudy said.
Edmonds suggested the area around the recreational trail that surrounds LCMGC.
“I don’t think there’s enough space and I don’t think that’s safe, either,” Alexander said.
Goudy asked who owned land just south of the LCMGC clubhouse — a lot between the clubhouse and a communications tower on the property — and Edmonds said the city owns the land.
“I don’t know how much land is there …,” Goudy said.
Alexander said that when the resident suggested that space may be available at the El Dorado-Union County Recreation Complex for disc golf, she reached out to Greg Harrison, chairman of the complex board of directors, about the matter.
Harrison said the eight softball and baseball — and soon, two new youth soccer — fields and other complex amenities take up about 40 acres and other land surrounding the facility is privately owned.
Parks and playgrounds Commissioner Brian Jones asked if the one acre per hole is regulation size for a disc golf course, saying, “I’ve seen disc golf courses that weren’t that big. That seems awfully … That’s a lot of space.”
Other commissioners agreed and said that disc golf facilities in Camden and Magnolia appear to be smaller.
“My other question was is there an interest here? Would we get a return on our investment, that it’s going to be used,” Alexander said.
In researching the matter, Goudy said he learned facilities charge a fee to play at disc golf.
Alexander and Jones said there is typically not a fee to play disc golf.
Jones said such facilities are free to the public for casual play and there is usually a charge to play in a tournament.
He reiterated, “So I don’t know how important it is to have a regulation one to have tournaments or just for casual play for people. But 18 acres, that’s a lot of acreage to give up for disc golf, in my opinion.”
“What I said to him, and I kind of spoke on behalf of our commission, was that we get past this request with the EWB first, get past these improvements we’ve been working on for so long to improve the parks that are established and we could continue discussing (disc golf),” Alexander said.
She said suggestions to add pickleball to the city’s park and recreation facilities by possibly re-purposing a portion of the existing tennis courts at Mellor Park are also on the EPPC’s radar.
Pickleball, which combines elements of tennis, ping-pong, badminton and Wiffle ball, was one of the ideas that local residents presented when commissioners sought public input for the latest batch of park improvements.
There is budding interest in the sport locally, with people using the Mellor Park and El Dorado Golf and Country Club tennis courts to play.
Alexander said she wanted to be sure there is enough local interest for pickleball and disc golf before pursuing funding, “wherever it comes from,” to cover the cost of the labor and equipment that would be necessary to create the respective facilities at city parks.
“I think that would be something. We’ve heard a lot of comments about pickleball and how popular it is,” said Jones, who asked that considerations for pickleball be included in the proposal that the EPPC plans to present to the EWB.
“You know, if we’re going to do something with the (Mellor Park) tennis courts, could we at least modify one of the courts for our community to play pickleball?” he asked.
“Yeah, that would be real easy,” Goudy said.
He also said that the El Dorado High School tennis teams have expressed interest in returning to Mellor Park for games and tournaments if the courts are resurfaced.
Alexander said she would like to learn more about disc golf and pickleball and she encouraged residents to contact parks and playgrounds commissioners with information and ideas.
For more information about the EPPC, call City Clerk Heather McVay at 870-881-4877.