PRAIRIE GROVE -- A future public park for Prairie Grove will have open green space for sports and recreation, a walking trail and a nature trail along the Muddy Fork of the Illinois River.
Other amenities could follow in the future.
City officials held their first public meeting on the park last week, asking citizens to give their input on what they would like to see at the park.
A conceptual site plan drawn by McClelland Consulting Engineers shows the park would have a parking lot, bathroom facilities, picnic tables, adult and youth soccer size fields and pedestrian bridges to cross waterways.
Not many people attended the meeting but those there threw out a few suggestions and all said they support the idea.
"I think this is an opportunity for Prairie Grove to have amenities that some other communities don't have," said Donna Roton.
She suggested a dog park, saying the closest one is in Fayetteville and is heavily used.
"I think a dog park is something a lot of people in this immediate area would use," Roton said.
The city has about seven acres of undeveloped land near its sewer treatment plant and has held onto the land for more than 50 years, thinking the land might be needed in the future to expand the sewer plant.
The plant has been updated and expanded in recent years and should be able to meet city needs through the year 2060. That means the city now can do something else with the property, said Larry Oelrich, director of public works and administrative services.
The city is in the process of purchasing an additional seven acres adjacent to the land. This is land on both sides of the Muddy Fork and would provide an area for a nature trail with river views. Prairie Grove approved purchasing the property Monday night for $2,700 per acre from Architectural Construction Inc.
The public will be able to access the park from Belle Meade subdivision. Prairie Grove purchased two empty lots in Belle Meade from Arvest Bank in 2015. The conceptual site plan shows a driveway would go through these two lots to a parking lot at the future park facility.
Oelrich is excited about the park and said he cannot wait for residents to see the area, especially the land along the Muddy Fork. He's seen turtles and fish in the river, deer, fawn, raccoons and possums.
The need for another public park in Prairie Grove is obvious, Oelrich told those at the public meeting.
Belle Meade subdivision is almost two miles driving distance from both Rieff Park and Prairie Grove Battlefield State Park. The new park will be close to five subdivisions that will have an estimated population of 1,200 when they are built out.
"We're starting to get more spread out and Prairie Grove is growing," Oelrich said.
He pointed out the land would provide a nice neighborhood park for Belle Meade, Battlefield Estates, Stonecrest, Prairie Oaks and Prairie Pines neighborhoods, as well as the rest of the city.
The utilities are in place for a park, Oelrich said. The land has access to sewer, telephone, water, gas and electric utility lines.
City employees have already started cleaning off some of the land but will leave several natural areas as buffer zones to hide the sewer plant and protect adjoining subdivisions. One challenge will be getting rid of a thicket of river cane. Oelrich said city workers would probably have to till it up to get rid of it.
This summer, employees will selectively remove some of the trees and clean out underbrush. Oelrich said he wants the land to have a natural look but still be easy to maintain.
He listed some ideas for the park that people have submitted through Facebook and by email. These include fishing piers, disc golf, bicycle skills track, bicycle dirt track/BMX track, pavilion, dog park and natural trail.
One of the suggestions at the meeting included making parts of the park accessible to physically challenged people.
Ashley Howard, who lives on Bonnie Scotland Street in Belle Meade, asked if the city would consider installing speed bumps on the street. Cars already drive too fast on the street and people going to the park would probably drive too fast, Howard said.
Otherwise, Howard said she is excited about the park.
The park would have to be built in stages, depending on financial resources, Oelrich said. Some work can be finished in-house. Oelrich said he thinks the city could put in a gravel driveway and gravel parking lot temporarily. City employees also could level the land and seed it. City crews probably could build a roughed-in natural trail along the river.
Mainly, Oelrich wants people to be able to get on the land and see it.
"I think people will get excited about it when they can see it," he said.
More expensive work for the park will be the parking lot, installing utilities, a lighted walking trail, restrooms, picnic and playground areas. Funding sources for these could include outdoor recreation grants and highway grants.
The city will hold another meeting for public input on the park at 6:30 p.m., Thursday, Nov. 3.
General News on 10/12/2016