New Springdale Park Named After George Family

Springdale Project Should Be Completed In August 2015

STAFF PHOTO ANTHONY REYES • @NWATONYR Mayor Doug Sprouse, left, and Gary George, chairman of George’s, unveil a sign Wednesday for C.L. Charlie & Willie George Park during a ground breaking at the site south of Don Tyson Parkway and Hylton Road in Springdale. The park will feature youth soccer, baseball and football fields, park, splash pad, tennis courts and a dog park when completed.
STAFF PHOTO ANTHONY REYES • @NWATONYR Mayor Doug Sprouse, left, and Gary George, chairman of George’s, unveil a sign Wednesday for C.L. Charlie & Willie George Park during a ground breaking at the site south of Don Tyson Parkway and Hylton Road in Springdale. The park will feature youth soccer, baseball and football fields, park, splash pad, tennis courts and a dog park when completed.

SPRINGDALE -- A new park in southeast Springdale could speed development and help the city's economy by attracting tournaments to the year-round ballfields, officials said.

A groundbreaking was held Wednesday at the site of the new park on the southeast corner of Don Tyson Parkway and Hylton Road. A sign unveiled at the event showed the park's name will be C.L. "Charlie" and Willie George Park.

At A Glance (w/logo)

C.L. “Charlie” and Willie George Park

The park will include:

• Four baseball fields with synthetic turf, a ticket booth, restrooms and a small play structure

• Three lighted tennis courts

• Six soccer fields, three of which will be lighted, with a pavilion, bathrooms and two small play structures

• Splash pad and large play structure with two pavilions located adjacent

• Lighted football field with a pavilion

• Dog park

• Multiple parking areas

• Trails

• A maintenance and storage facility

Source: City Of Springdale

Gary George said his grandfather, one of the people the park is named for, loved land and the outdoors.

"We feel like we should never forget them," he said.

The park will be 75 acres and will include the city's first splash pad and dog park, said Rick McWhorter, director of the Park Department. The park also will have tennis courts, baseball fields, soccer fields, pavilions and walking trails, said Mayor Doug Sprouse. The last park built in the city with comparable facilities was Tyson Park in the 1980s.

"We've been needing this for a long time," Sprouse said. "We're very thankful that this has come to pass."

The park will cost the city $10.8 million, said Mike Davis, vice president of Milestone Construction Company. The company is building the park. It's scheduled for completion by August 2015.

The George family donated $500,000 for the project, Sprouse said. The rest of the cost will be paid for through bond money. The bond is being retired with sales tax revenue. Voters approved the bond issue in 2012.

The lowest construction bid came in at $13.6 million. The bid was higher than estimated, so some amenities were cut from the project, including a track around the football field and the press box. They also decided to use less, and a different type, of fencing.

The park also could help with development in the area, McWhorter said. There was one house in the area in 2010; now there's a new neighborhood across the street from the park. He said the park could speed development in the area because developers like to build near parks.

The city also has plans to extend Don Tyson Parkway to the east past Hylton Road, where it now ends, Sprouse said. The street project also could increase development in the area.

"And there will be many more in the future," said Sprouse, motioning to a nearby neighborhood.

The park will be near the city's eastern and southern borders, and most of the surrounding land is zoned either agricultural or residential, according to the city's zoning map.

On Wednesday, Cory Ralston moved into a house on Grand Valley Drive in the neighborhood across the street from the park. The neighborhood is new -- many of the houses have Realtor signs on the lawns. He said he liked the idea of living near a new park and said he probably would use the dog park.

NW News on 08/28/2014

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