By Karen Gleason
The 830 Times
Del Rio Economic Development Corporation (EDC) board members on Thursday agreed
in principle to support the development of an all-inclusive playground on the grounds of a
sports park on the city’s north side.
The EDC members heard a presentation during their May regular meeting on the
proposed all-inclusive playground to be sited on the grounds of the William S. Nixon
Sports Park off Kings Way.
City staff members made an informal presentation about the playground to three EDC
members during a scheduled meeting on May 7. However, only three of the seven EDC
board members were present during that meeting. Since three members does not
constitute a quorum, those three EDC members listened to the presentation, but were not
able to take formal action on the project.
After listening to the presentation Thursday, the EDC board again took no formal action,
but comments from several members following the briefing indicated strong support for
the playground project.
City Manager Shawna Burkhart opened the presentation.
She told the EDC board members, “This evening, the city staff has asked to present this
all-inclusive park project, which is a park project that has been sought out via Texas
Parks and Wildlife (Department) over the last two years, and we have now been notified
that we are funded. However, there is a significant match which the city is not fully able
to sustain by itself, and so we have asked to present this to the EDC board as well as
other entities and even, I believe, in Mexico.”
City Planning and Zoning Director Janice Pokrant started the presentation by speaking
about the project’s history, noting it was the brainchild of Del Rio resident Sabrina Peña,
who began It’s A Beautiful Day, a foundation to honor the memory of her son Nicky.
“He had some health challenges and was unable to go into any of our parks and recreate
because there wasn’t the proper all-accessible playground for him to do so, so she got the
idea of developing something that all of the community could come out to,” Pokrant said.
More information can be found about the family’s vision here.
Pokrant said Peña was able to work with the Shane’s Inspiration organization to acquire a
grant for the design of the playground and its equipment. In developing plans for the
playground, designers held a meeting locally, including 49 adults and 18 children, to
receive input about the project.
The EDC board heard next from Michael Garcia, assistant to the city manager and city
grants writer, who spoke about the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TP&WD)
grant the city had received to help construct the playground.
Garcia said the city applied for, and received, a grant of up to $750,000 from TP&WD,
with a 50 percent local match. He said at the time, the city council committed to provide
the match.
He added, “Given that the city is currently facing some financial constraints, we are
looking to seek outside funding sources to form a collaborative effort to construct this
regional, all-inclusive park.”
Garcia said the city has three years to complete the project, adding he and Pokrant have
met with the TP&WD grants coordinator and explained the city’s situation, and he said
the staff of TP&WD has promised an additional two-year extension, so the city can have five years
to complete the playground.
Garcia said he will give a presentation about the park to the maquila (twin plants)
association, which includes the managers of 33 manufacturing companies that do
business in the United States and Mexico.
Scot Carcasi, the city’s operations and compliance manager, spoke about what exactly the
playground is and how it ties into the city’s parks master plan.
Carcasi showed the EDC members where the playground would be placed inside the sports
park.
Carcasi said, as part of the city’s required $750,000 match, city crews will be doing some
of the site preparation work, including grading and installation of fencing. Carcasi added
that the city also has some certificate of obligation money, about $400,000, that can be
used on parks, that could be reassigned to the playground project.
“We have a whole team of city staff who are going to do whatever it takes to go out and
talk to whoever we need to talk to try and bring this back to the community and try to
raise those dollars,” Carcasi said.
Smith asked how much the city’s site preparation work will count towards the 50 percent
match, and Carcasi said he does not have those numbers yet.
Burkhart added the $400,000 from CO monies has not yet been appropriated, so it would
have to be formally approved by the city council “to make sure that they understand that
you’re taking away from one project to put toward another.”
Smith noted support for the playground is a project that would fall within the EDC’s
purview for expenditure of funds, and Burkhart agreed that it did.
“That said, I think for sure we can help. I think we need to qualify and understand what
that help would be, digest it a little bit,” Smith said.
Smith also said it might be possible for the EDC to spread its support over several years.
He asked Carcasi how soon city staff needed to know what the EDC is willing to do.
“We’re kind of in a time crunch, just because we need to let council know what kind of
funding we might be able to drum up, to know whether they support the project or not,
financially,” Carcasi said.
Smith commented, “I love the idea, and I think we would definitely support (it). To
quantify what that (support) would be tonight would be probably a ‘no,’ but give us a
couple of weeks to determine what that (support) might look like.”
Robles asked if the staff had received any other firm financial commitments, and Carcasi
said they had not.
Pokrant said she will be speaking to representatives of the AEP Foundation for a possible
donation.
Smith asked when the city had to respond to about the grant.
“They would like the city to go ahead and accept the grant, because we’ve not accepted it
yet, and so they’d like us to accept it,” Pokrant said.
The EDC board members asked several other questions, and Smith told city staff that the
EDC board will likely re-consider formal action on their request in early June.
The writer can be reached at delriomagnoliafan@gmail.com.
