CORINTH - City Council members demonstrated little appetite to issue bonds to pay for improvements to Corinth's park system this week, though some said they were comfortable with dedicating more from the city's operating and other appropriate funds.
The council held a joint meeting Thursday with the Parks and Recreation Commission and the Trails Committee to review a proposed master plan for Corinth Community Park.
Mayor Paul Ruggiere told the group that the parks board had identified about $11 million in projects across the city, including about $5 million to finish Corinth Community Park. He asked them to be mindful of the other park assets as they set priorities for the landmark, 116-acre park on the city's east side.
The city's economic development corporation has pledged about $50,000 per year to help the city's parks, along with about $1.5 million meant to match state grants.
Since the state grants were canceled as part of budget cuts during the last session of the Texas Legislature, Ruggiere told the group that it was up to the economic development corporation whether it still wanted to invest in city parks.
The corporation was committed to helping the parks, as they are part the city's infrastructure, too, "as long as we still have what we need to attract businesses," Bill Heidemann, corporation board member, told the group.
Construction began on the park more than a decade ago, but it was never completed.
A new master plan prepared by Kimley-Horn and Associates shows an expansion from the park's current features, which include a mix of natural areas and ball fields, to one with many more athletic fields.
The park's offerings could include two to four football fields, five to six soccer fields, and three fourplexes for baseball, softball, T-ball and Miracle League, an accessible youth baseball program.
During an hourlong discussion, Ruggiere noted that nearly everyone agreed to protect the natural areas of the park and to minimize the impact on the park's current trail.
One of the concept plans would put a paved parking lot near the park's fishing pond. Parks board member Stacy Goodwin said the entire area gets congested with people hunting for a parking place on weekends when ballgames are going on, but she agreed with the others that putting a parking lot near the fishing pond was not a good idea.
"We have a lot of trees contained in those two natural areas," Goodwin said.
The park has a regional draw, some said. Trails committee member Lance Hendrik said that since the Lewisville Lake Toll Bridge opened, he has regularly seen on the trail both runners and bikers from Little Elm. Parks board member Jerame Cordeiro told the group that hundreds of area youths participate in team sports at the park.
If the ball fields were built as planned, they could be even more of a regional draw, Cordeiro said, likening it to Railroad Park in Lewisville.
"We could attract select tournaments," Cordeiro said.
Council member Joe Harrison said it bothered him that the city's youth leagues didn't want multipurpose fields, even though - as one parks board member pointed out - other sports groups use the fields, too.
Lacrosse and field hockey clubs use the fields on Sundays, Lowell Johnson said.
Council member John Booher was not as quick as the other council members to dismiss the community's appetite to pay for park improvements, including the possibility of issuing bonds to pay for it.
"Year after year, when the city surveys its residents, the parks come up as a No. 1 concern," Booher said.
At the end of the meeting, Ruggiere noted areas of consensus, including that parks board and trail committee members wanted to see the concession stand moved out of the natural area, too.
Ruggiere asked the group to go back to their respective committees and come up with a list of priorities for council members to consider as they plan for park improvements.
Citing Johnson's recommendation that lighting the ball fields was a cost-effective way to help the fields be used more fully, Ruggiere was optimistic that the city could make other improvements, too.
"I think we can do a lot with what we have," Ruggiere said.
PEGGY HEINKEL-WOLFE can be reached at 940-566-6881. Her e-mail address is pheinkel-wolfe@dentonrc.com.
