Spring has sprung and so has Fayetteville's regional park

Mitch Kirkland (from right), 7, pushes the ball past Jackson Reno, 8, on Thursday as Jack Keathley, 8, watches during F.C. Arkansas practice at the Kessler Mountain Preserve and Regional Park in Fayetteville.
Mitch Kirkland (from right), 7, pushes the ball past Jackson Reno, 8, on Thursday as Jack Keathley, 8, watches during F.C. Arkansas practice at the Kessler Mountain Preserve and Regional Park in Fayetteville.

FAYETTEVILLE -- Beth Looper didn't realize Kessler Mountain Regional Park has so many soccer fields. She brought her two kids, Oliver, 7, and Sylvia, 5, out on a breezy Thursday to take advantage of the nice weather during spring break.

photo

Friends Thomas Ashcraft and Emily Rawlings, both sophomores at the University of Arkansas from Girard, Kan., sign in Thursday at the Kessler Mountain Preserve and Regional Park in Fayetteville.

"Mom, can we play?" Oliver asked.

photo

The park features soccer and baseball fields and is adjacent to the Kessler Mountain Preserve in Fayetteville.

photo

Mitch Kirkland (from right), 7, pushes the ball past Jackson Reno, 8, on Thursday as Jack Keathley, 8, watches during F.C. Arkansas practice at the Kessler Mountain Preserve and Regional Park in Fayetteville.

Alas, they had no ball.

"Can we at least just run around?" he said as he zipped from the car while his sister followed close behind strapping on her shoes.

The three had gone hiking with a group of friends. They made it past Crazy Mary Trail before turning around because of the rocky terrain.

"It'd be cool if, on the trails, it said what level they were so you'd kind of have an idea when you go into them," Looper said.

Oliver and Sylvia played in a creek for about an hour. They made the most of their first time at Kessler Mountain.

Activities there can get going in earnest with the coming of spring and the next phases of the massive regional park project well underway.

The nearly 600-acre park and preserve on the southeast edge of town officially opened in August. The City Council approved a conservation easement to protect 384 acres on the west side of the area from development. Plans call for the 200 acres on the east side to become a recreational hub with fields and courts.

Right now, six open soccer fields and four baseball fields have allowed the city's youth programs to spread from other parks and sports complexes. Additional phases will bring four more baseball fields, four softball fields, eight tennis courts, four basketball courts and three sand volleyball courts. An open lawn, amphitheater, pavilion, office, visitors center and playground will give visitors plenty of room to move around and hang out with enough parking and restrooms for everyone.

On the preserve side, the city will upgrade the park's 8 miles of trail. The first phase of the Kessler Mountain Trails Plan will add 3.5 miles of trail through the mountainous terrain.

City officials and nature enthusiasts put their heads together nearly 20 years ago to make Kessler Mountain Regional Park a reality. How far that vision reaches depends on money, planning and a lot of work, Park Planner Ken Eastin said.

"The actual value that it brings to the city is pretty much incalculable," he said.

Winding up

Planning for a regional park started in 2000. The Parks and Recreation Advisory Board selected the site three years later, and in 2010, Chambers Bank donated the 200 acres that has become the park.

The city bought the preserve from the Cummings family, for whom Judge Cummings Road is named, in 2014 for about $3 million. The Walton Family Foundation committed $1.5 million toward the purchase, with the city paying $1.6 million and the Fayetteville Natural Heritage Association chipping in $300,000. Part of the deal with the matching grant required ensuring the land stay protected forever and remain open to the public.

The city paid about $29,000 to develop a trails plan, which Progressive Trail Design and Alta Planning+Design released last year after numerous meetings, events, interviews, surveys, public input sessions and plan reviews. The plan calls for more than $888,000 of improvements to the preserve, including 7.6 miles of new trails, repairing trails, building a trailhead, signs and more parking.

The Walton Family Foundation has committed matching money up to $210,000 for the first phase of the trails project. Requests for proposals closed earlier this month, and the City Council will vote on a contract April 4.

The Rotary Club of Fayetteville gave the city $150,000 to build a playground. The city will pitch in $120,000. Project bids closed Thursday.

Everything now at the regional park cost about $12.4 million to create. That price tag entailed a lot of the heavy lifting and grading to get the land in shape. Future phases will require road and utility work and more grading for the softball fields and everything across the creek on the south side of the park. Money will drive exactly what future phases entail, Park Planner Alison Jumper said.

"It really just depends on what is in the 'next phase' as to how much it will cost," she said.

Swinging for the stars

The facilities at the regional park have helped ease the burden of finding space for the city's youth recreation programs. Fayetteville Youth Baseball, which has about 1,000 children signed up, has had to turn some participants away after filling slots at Walker Park and White River Baseball Complex, said Robert Gibson, league president.

Gibson estimated the program could nearly double with the space at the regional park, and with even more fields on the horizon, could expand far beyond what league organizers ever anticipated.

"For what we have to charge with our entry fee, I want them to get more bang for their buck. Now we can actually do that," he said. "It gives those kids an opportunity to play more ball."

Gibson used to play baseball at Walker Park when he was a kid and, at the time, he thought it was the greatest thing in the world. He's envious he's not a kid anymore.

"I walked out to Kessler the other night, turned the lights on and just stood in awe," he said. "I wanted to be 10 years old again. I was like, 'Man, this just isn't fair for us old guys.'"

The 10-year-old and 11- and 12-year-old league games will begin April 8 at Kessler. Youth soccer has started and runs through April 22.

John Lamparski, sports sales manager with Experience Fayetteville, said being able to break up the large fields into smaller segments opens the door to bringing more regional and out-of-state tournaments.

Lamparski will attend the National Association of Sports Commissions symposium this week in Sacramento to explore the possibilities. The annual event brings together event founders, planners and representatives of municipal tourism bureaus. Lamparski plans to bring whatever quality events he can to Kessler.

"It's exciting to have, and it's going to be an amazing added attraction," he said. "It's going to be a jewel in the Parks and Rec armory of things."

Ozarks Off-Road Cyclists served among many groups helping shape the trails plan. Brannon Pack, executive director, said the trails that will get an overhaul provide expert-level mountain biking courses. The new trails will give less-experienced riders a place to start with easier terrain. Pack's organization has worked hard to make mountain biking one of the most popular activities in Fayetteville by helping shape areas like Kessler.

"Preserving that green space versus -- it was very up in the air. That thing could have been developed," he said. "I think we were able, as a community, to preserve that mountain for recreational use, green space, education, hiking, running and mountain biking. It's going to be a gem for generations to come."

Goal

Eastin said residents can expect to see the trails repaired and the 3.5 miles of new trails finished this year. The Walton Family Foundation grant requires half of the trail project be complete by the end of June with the rest finished before year's end.

Once the City Council approves a contract to build the Rotary Club of Fayetteville Playground, that project should also be finished by the end of the year, Eastin said.

Other phases will come with time and, most crucially, as funding becomes available. A fully realized trails and regional park master plan could come to fruition within five years, but a park evolves with the community, Eastin said.

"Once we have a plan, it really only has a five-year, possibly a 10-year lifespan before you really need to kick back and re-evaluate what's going on and if needs have changed," he said.

NW News on 03/27/2017

Upcoming Events