Friday, May 01, 2009
The $6.9 million renovation of Cameron Park has begun, but city park planners are considering some last-minute tweaks that park users have urged to improve safety and aesthetics.
Based on a public meeting this week that drew 100 people, parks director Rusty Black said the city will consider suggestions such as scaling back concrete trails and adding emergency call boxes and speed bumps.
“Nothing has actually been changed at this point, but we will evaluate all those suggestions on their own merits,” Black said. “We’re going to look at improvements that meet the diverse needs of our users, whether they’re bikers, walkers, striders or disc golfers.”
What the bond will build
Here’s a rundown of projects proposed under a $4 million contract recently awarded for Cameron Park renovations. With $2 million left to spend, the city is discussing other improvements proposed in its Cameron Park master plan. For a look at the parks department’s slide show on the renovations, go to www.wacotrib.com.
• Lovers Leap: New restrooms, one renovated pavilion and one reconstructed pavilion, plazas and overlooks, trail, utilities, monument sign, kiosk with signs, irrigation, landscaping, site furnishings, lighting, grading, drainage, erosion control, parking and road improvements.
• Mouth of the Bosque: New restrooms, one new pavilion, trail, utilities, monument sign, kiosk with signs, irrigation, site furnishings, lighting, grading, drainage, erosion control, parking lot and a rebuilt road from Cameron Park Drive.
• Circle Point: Reconstructed pavilion, plazas, raised overlook area, parking and road improvements, trail, utilities, monument sign, kiosk with signs, irrigation, landscaping, site furnishings, lighting, grading, drainage and erosion control.
• Clubhouse & Anniversary Park: Entry plaza at the Clubhouse entrance, a picnic plaza for large groups, parking lot, historic fountain repairs, trail, utilities, monument sign, kiosk with signs, irrigation, landscaping, site furnishings, lighting, grading, drainage and erosion control.
• Jacob’s Ladder: Plazas at top and bottom, railing replacement, retaining walls, repairs to stairway, kiosk and signs, trail, lighting, irrigation, landscaping, site furnishings, grading, drainage and erosion control.
• Rock Shelter: Pavilion renovation, plazas, trail, utilities, monument sign, irrigation, landscaping, site furnishings, parking lot, lighting, grading, drainage and erosion control.
• Redwood Shelter: New restrooms, new pavilion, plaza, parking lot expansion, trail, utilities, monument sign, irrigation, landscaping, site furnishings, lighting, grading, drainage and erosion control.
• Proctor Springs: Reconstructed pavilion, pedestrian bridge, Wilson Creek erosion improvements, parking and road, trail, utilities, monument sign, irrigation, landscaping, site furnishings, lighting, grading, drainage and erosion control.
The crowd at Monday’s meeting included those groups, along with equestrians, dog-park enthusiasts and Cameron Park neighborhood residents.
The comments from the crowd were mostly supportive of the city’s plan to renovate selected parts of the 430-acre park from Proctor Springs to Lovers Leap, but some said the city should have consulted with the park’s regular users about the details.
The Waco City Council last week awarded a $4 million contract to Barsh Construction for the renovation. The contract saved $2 million, which will be used for a second phase of renovation that could include new signs, further Proctor Springs improvements and study and redevelopment of the old Northern Little League fields.
Proctor Springs and Redwood Shelter have already closed for the first phase of construction, and more closings throughout the park are expected in the next month.
Still, Black said it’s not too late to revise the work that has already been contracted.
Jon Pursley, an offroad cyclist who attended the meeting, said he thinks the city is taking public comment seriously.
Pursley was mostly concerned about Mouth of the Bosque, a small recreation area at the confluence of the Brazos and Bosque rivers. The city’s plans had called for a network of concrete walking trails there, along with a new bathroom and parking lot.
Pursley said that would have been too much pavement for a natural area, and he suggested using crushed granite for the trail instead of concrete.
Black later said the concrete trail would probably be scaled back, and his staff was researching crushed granite.
“I have no big hang-up with that,” he said. “My experience with cinder trails is if a bicycle went across that after a rain, it would leave a rut that someone could twist an ankle in.”
But he said those problems might be avoided if the trail is built with a solid enough base.
Safety a key concern
Most of the other public concerns expressed were related to safety.
One park user warned that the smooth new road that will replace the rutted road to Mouth of the Bosque would invite speeding, which would create a hazard for hikers and cyclists coming off the woodland trails. Black said he would investigate the possibility of speed bumps or other traffic-calming devices.
Thad Hairston, a cyclist and resident of the Cameron Park neighborhood, said the park plans are exciting, but he said remote emergency telephones and perhaps security cameras were needed to help people feel safe in the newly renovated areas.
“There needs to be more thought put into safety,” he said. “Let’s not be blind.”
Brandon Blagg, a regular park user who owns the Bear Mountain outdoor gear store, said seedy behavior at Cameron Park drives off visitors, and police patrols need to be stepped up.
“Just building something new isn’t enough,” he said. “If you’ve never come across two people having sexual intercourse on the trail, if you’ve never seen people hotboxing in a car smoking weed, if you’ve never seen a drug deal go down, you don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Another park user suggested a citizens on patrol program to encourage civilians to call in objectionable behavior in the park.
Black said later this week that he was taking that idea and the call box proposal seriously.
Several speakers at the public meeting this week complained that the planning process didn’t include enough public feedback. The city held well-attended public meetings early last year to gather public input for the plans, but until this week, there had been no public meetings on the detailed plans.
Black said the designs have been on the city’s Web site for months, but park users said this week that the display was not high-resolution enough to be useful. Black said he hopes to improve communication with user groups and the public as the parks department makes further improvements.
“What we need to focus on is improving that park, taking into account the people who use the park,” he said. “We need to incorporate them and make sure they have a place at the table.”
jbsmith@wacotrib.com
757-5752
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