Santa Fe presents $40 million parks and open‑space capital projects portfolio, highlights recent completions and upcoming work

City parks and public‑works staff on Wednesday gave committee members an overview of roughly $40 million in parks and open‑space capital projects, highlighting recently completed fields and courts, ongoing designs and near‑term public review opportunities.

Scott Overly, public‑works project manager, and Director Melissa McDonald presented completed work including six new pickleball courts at Fort Marcy (opened May 2, 2025), a new PFAS‑free synthetic turf field at Salvador Perez Park (completed March 15, 2025) and a synthetic conversion at Bridal Park. Overly said those projects were completed on time and under budget.

Overly described key project details: Fort Marcy’s pickleball installation added six courts; the Salvador Perez turf project used an EcoTherm infill that Overly said “reduces heat up to 30 degrees over the traditional black rubber infill” and cost about $1.2 million; Bridal Park’s turf project was approximately $1.3 million. Tennis court resurfacing at Alto Park and Salvador Perez cost about $155,000 and included new nets, posts and a practice wall.

Ongoing and upcoming projects include the Shelby Street (Alameda) pedestrian bridge, which is in design and under historic review with a 30% design review scheduled for June 24; Swan Park Phase 2, which has $3.8 million in funding and is in design; a median beautification project on Airport Road with about $1.7 million in funding; and the Municipal Recreation Complex (MRC) Soccer Valley expansion, with $5.3 million committed and about $3 million more expected in donation funds.

Fort Marcy Park improvements are in design with roughly $5 million in current funding committed to grandstand, restroom and concession work, circulation, electrical and irrigation upgrades. Overly said contractors under contract for recent work included Hellas Construction for the turf and court projects and Molson Corbin for design and project management on larger site projects. Site Southwest, Wilson Engineering and Bohemian Houston Engineering were named as consultants on other projects.

Council members responded positively to the presentation. Councilor Michael Garcia thanked staff “for really working to improve the infrastructure of our community, but more importantly, doing it under budget and quicker than the time proposed.” Councilor Lee Garcia urged built‑in reporting and reauthorization checkpoints so the governing body can review progress and hold operators accountable; Director Hammond Paul said the city can add review periods or reauthorization steps.

Under matters from staff, Director Wheeler provided two operational updates: a bond ordinance to fund rehabilitation of Airport Road has been introduced, with the project estimated at more than $3 million and possible funding available by early August; and crews recently discovered a gas main on Guadalupe Street only 6 inches below the pavement. New Mexico Gas Company will relocate the main to meet code (three feet below final pavement) and staff expect that relocation to be complete by the following Thursday, with a revised paving schedule to be released.

Staff said many design phases will include early neighborhood notifications (ENNs) and in‑person outreach; Overly and McDonald said the parks division is scheduling bilingual ENNs and more in‑person engagement after holding some virtual meetings during COVID‑era outreach. Several councilors urged staff to make ENNs accessible to older residents and to publicize in‑person options.

The presentation ended with committee members thanking staff for the work and photos Overly shared of ribbon cuttings and drone footage of recent projects.