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Drawing of upgrades to Charlton Pollard Playground
“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,” Beaumont Councilman Mike Getz advised fellow Beaumont City Council member during a June meeting in which the elected officials pondered parks upgrades throughout the city. Rogers Park was not approved for any new upgrades at the meeting. “The west end of Beaumont only has three parks (Ward 2) and Rogers Park is in need of some care and help.”
Last February, Beaumont City Council unanimously approved a $1,374,000 budget for park improvements, and during the body’s June 27 meeting, several councilmen expressed opposition to approving two purchases when it came time for final approval of funds for four area parks.
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, Councilmen Getz spoke up.
“I’m asking that we consider reallocating that funding for Babe Zaharias for a shelter at Rogers Park,” Getz urged. “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.
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. Councilmen 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.
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.
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.
— Barbara Davis