SPRINGDALE — The number of sports fields in the city will more than double if preliminary plans for new parks become reality.
Engineering Services Inc. finished a first draft of plans for two new parks the city has planned. Those plans would triple the number of soccer fields and more than double the number of tennis courts, youth baseball fields and adult softball fields, said Rick McWhorter, city parks and recreation director.
“A lot of dirt should soon be flying on both sides of the city,” McWhorter said. “We’re trying to get as much as we can from our money.”
A bond sale, approved last year by city voters, raised $16.1 million for parks. The sale also raised money for roads and fire stations. The bonds will be repaid by an existing 1 percent city sales tax.
The city purchased about 180 acres for new parks at two locations. One park, to be located on the southeast corner of the intersection of Don Tyson Parkway and Hylton Road, will be completely developed over 75 acres. The other, located on the northeast corner of the intersection of Ball and County Line roads, will be developed as far as the money can be stretched, said Mayor Doug Sprouse.
Engineering Services designed the parks after a public input meeting and going over the needs of the park system with McWhorter and parks staff members.
At A Glance
Springdale Parks
Name Location
• Murphy Park, 501 S. Pleasant St.
• J.B. Hunt Park, 1955 Fleming St.
• Randal Tyson Complex, 4303 Watkins Ave.
• Luther George Grove Street Park, corner of Grove and Park streets
• Bayyari Park, 2400 Deer Valley St.
• Bobby Hopper Park, 399 Upton St.
Source: Staff Report
“That’s who will be using the parks and taking care of them,” said Brian Moore, Engineering Services vice president. “We tried to fit the fields to the topography of the land.”
The plans would add enough soccer fields to allow park workers to better maintain the turf, McWhorter said. Existing fields are now used from March to November, he said, with no down time to repair the wear and tear.
Three adult softball fields would be moved from Tyson Park to the northwest park, said Andrew Proffitt, adult sports coordinator. The move would allow teams to play two games in one night at a single location.
“That’s the way teams want to go,” Proffitt said. “It’s hard to schedule when you have an odd number of fields.”
The Tyson softball fields would be converted to youth baseball fields. Those fields have been used by youth teams on occasion.
Having adult softball fields separate from the baseball fields would be good, said Jamey Baxter. Baxter has played in Springdale softball leagues for more than a decade, he said.
Switching from softball to baseball and back again has not been easy, Baxter said.
“It’s not been easy, moving from field to field,” Baxter said.
In the short term, finding the park will be difficult, Baxter said, but J.B. Hunt Park, another softball field location, is not easy to find. Planned new streets will do a lot to improve that, he said.
Plans are to extend 56th Street, which would make a quick connection between Tyson Park and the northwest park. Also, a section of the U.S. 412 northern bypass that will provide a connection between Interstate 540 and Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport would have an exit on Arkansas 112. The northwest park is near Arkansas 112.
The southeast park plans call for four youth baseball fields and a football practice field. The northwest park would have two practice fields. Each park would have four tennis courts.
After receiving feedback from aldermen, Engineering Services will have the final plans ready in about six months, Moore said. Construction time would be nine months to a year, he said.
Contracts will include deductive alternates that would allow some fields on the northwest park to be removed from the project to keep costs in line with money available, Moore said.
“We’ll shoot for the moon and see how far the money stretches,” Moore said.
Web Watch
To see plans for Springdale’s new parks go to www.nwaonline.com.