Parks committee reviews 2025 capital plan, Fabic grants and Budweil annex funding; sets Arbor Day and meeting dates

The Fenton Parks and Recreation Committee and Tree Advisory Board on Jan. 8 received a staff briefing on the city’s 2025 parks capital plan and several project updates, and the committee set calendar items including the Arbor Day observance and an alternate September meeting date.

Committee members were told the city increased the annual tree removal and trimming line from $100,000 last year to $150,000 for 2025. Part of that allocation will pay for tree removal and pruning at Fabic Nature Preserve under a separate grant-funded effort: staff said about 38 trees identified in the Fabic tree study are planned for work covered by a TRIM-style grant from the Missouri Department of Conservation.

The committee heard a rundown of other capital-line items carried into 2025 and underway. The parks master plan carryover line is $12,500 (the amount the city would use to apply for a municipal park grant), and park signage is budgeted at $20,000. A previously approved contract with Boulders by Design (fabrication vendor) is in production; installation dates remain weather-dependent. Invasive-species control at Fabic has moved into phase 2; staff reported the Missouri Department of Conservation provided grant funding and that pre-treatment work around Presler Lake has already occurred.

Staff described on‑site clearing completed with a contracted forestry cutter and said Native Landscape…