The Fenton Park Board on Aug. 4 discussed potential park projects to include in the city’s 2026 capital plan and asked staff to return with guesstimates for formal submission to the aldermen in October.

Nikki, parks staff, told the board that the city seeks items for the long-range capital plan and noted that projects not finished in 2025 are commonly rolled into the following year. She said staff has discussed a professional landscaping line item for Fenton City Park and “we're thinking a price to have around for the first year about $50,000” to cover design, installation and first-year maintenance; that figure would include work around the Heroes Memorial.

Other candidate projects discussed included a nature trail on the east side of Fabick Park, replacement or repair of a deteriorating retaining wall at Westside Park, and pathway/curb drainage repairs at Fenton City Park to address standing water on the basketball courts. Nikki said staff will collect cost estimates and return next month; she also said playground replacements are already in the long-range plan for 2026 and 2028.

The board reviewed a staff-received quote of approximately $13,800 from Davie Resource for an arboretum study (tree identification and labeling) that could position parts of Westside and Fabick for an arboretum grant. Nikki said the grant (previously called the TRIM grant) typically offers a 25/75 split and could fund a portion of survey and labeling work.

Nikki also reported current tree-management budgeting: ‘‘we budget every year a $100,000. I think we increased it to a 150,000 now for just tree removal and stump grinding,’’ she said, indicating additional contractor capacity is being sought after storm workloads. The board asked staff to prepare cost estimates for the items discussed and to return with a revised capital plan for further consideration in September so final submissions can be made by mid-October.