The Van Buren City Council’s purchase of land near the downtown business district is the latest step in the city’s effort to upgrade its park system.
The council voted Monday night to purchase part of the 800 and 900 blocks of Main Street for $291,938 that eventually will be developed into a city park.
Mayor B ob Freeman said there are no immediate plans to develop the park and no definite vision of what it will become, but the council took the opportunity Monday to purchase the land.
The resolution aldermen passed Monday called for the land to be used to construct a veterans park.
Freeman described the development of the park as a multiyear project.
The city plans to demolish the shuttered and deteriorating building on the site, which is next to the Van Buren train depot and Advertising and Promotion Commission office. The removal will dress up the area, Freeman said.
“As the plans develop, It will become a huge asset to the city,” Van Buren Chamber of Commerce executive director Jackie Krutsch said Wednesday.
She said green space is always good for a city, and a park honoring veterans would be a good complement to the city’s historic Main Street.
The council purchased the land with money from 0.5 percent sales tax that voters approved in July. In addition to financing construction of a new police station, additional fire station and a new senior citizens center, revenue from the tax was earmarked for $1.75 million in city park improvements.
So far, Freeman said, two new ball fields with new restrooms and concession stand are three weeks away from being completed at the Field of Dreams complex.
The city is waiting for approval from the Army Corps of Engineers to take possession of Lee Creek Park on the Arkansas River that was closed after being damaged in a tornado in 1996, Freeman said.
He said he is negotiating with Cass Job Corps for its members to perform the reclamation work as a training project. Once reopened, he said, Van Buren would hire caretakers and maintain the park at a cost of about $50,000 a year.
The city is also working on plans to improve fencing and lighting at tennis courts the city owns at 16th Street and Pointer Trail as well as minor improvements to City Park, Freeman said.
Northwest Arkansas, Pages 9 on 02/28/2013