Beaumont proposes new playgrounds, pool upgrades and park renovations in five-year plan

Parks Director Kenneth Reguet presented a package of park and recreation projects proposed for the five-year Community Investment Plan, including routine maintenance items and voter-driven general-obligation bond candidates.

Reguet described the athletic-complex parking rehabilitation at Eagle Brook Drive as "an ongoing project, at 1,550,000 certificate of obligation bond." He told the council that playground equipment and shade-structure replacements are proposed at sites identified in the parks master plan, at a staff-estimated cost of $1,100,000 funded by general-obligation bonds. New neighborhood pavilions, new branded park signage, and splash-pad upgrades were also included as CIP items.

Major projects on the parks list include two community parks ($4,000,000 each proposed for Ward 1 and the South End), a $2.36 million package of pool upgrades for Magnolia and Alice Keith pools (ADA lifts, sanitary systems, piping and pumps), and a $1.4 million expansion of parking at Babe Saharas Complex to add roughly 275 spaces. Reguet said that many of the park items respond directly to the recently adopted parks, recreation and green-space master plan.

Discussion and trade-offs: Council members repeatedly asked whether projects depended on voter approval and how priorities would be selected. Staff said the bond advisory committee will review and prioritize proposed general-obligation projects and return recommendations to council; staff emphasized that GO bond items require voter approval. Councilmembers pressed staff about neighborhood sequencing and timing for repairs; Reguet said the planned pavilion program would build two pavilions per year and that Ward 3 parks received several line items in the current CIP.

Terrell Park and golf course: park and recreation staff also discussed a large-scale Terrell Park South Loop renovation intended to develop amenities (playgrounds, trails, amphitheater and a cricket field) and a separate golf-course study and possible redesign (presented by recreation staff) estimated at $14.5 million to $19.7 million depending on scope. Recreation director Jimmy Neal said a full redesign would aim to make the course a regional destination but that any large-scale golf renovation would require a feasibility study and choices about operations, fees and staffing.

Community input and next steps: staff said the bond advisory committee will begin a deeper review of the proposed GO bond projects next week; council members asked that the committee consider quality-of-life priorities such as shade structures and playground replacements alongside larger destination projects. Staff also noted a potential funding stream from a newly created TERS-related source and that the council will be asked to set bond election language after the committee and staff priorities are refined.

Ending: staff will present prioritized bond recommendations from the advisory committee to council in August and will return with operating-budget implications for new park facilities.