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Parks staff outlines 2025 priorities: Prairie West parking, bike-trail repairs, Heartland Park lighting among top needs
Summary
Parks staff presented a multi-year plan and list of candidate projects at the January 2025 Saint John Park Board meeting, highlighting Prairie West parking expansion, bike-trail repair (estimated $50,000), Heartland Park lighting upgrades and facility maintenance needs at Civic Park and Gates Community Center.
Gabe, identified in the meeting as a parks staff member, laid out a proposed list of park projects and priorities for 2025 and beyond, emphasizing Prairie West parking repairs and expansion and targeted bike-trail repairs as the immediate priorities.
Gabe told the Saint John Park Board that engineering and topographic work for Prairie West’s parking lot already is complete and recommended soliciting three bids to carry out construction this year. He described the Lake Hills bike-trail segment as heavily used and said repairs there could require a budget of about $50,000; he cautioned parts of the trail date to the golf-course era and may need more extensive rebuilds in places.
On Heartland Park, Gabe said the parks department discussed lighting upgrades with local baseball organizers; the meeting record indicates the baseball groups are pursuing a grant through the Babe Ruth organization for lights but have not confirmed eligible uses. Gabe said if the park board pursues lighting upgrades the town would likely need major concessions elsewhere because lighting and related repairs are costly. He also described other candidate projects, including timberline park upgrades through a CDBG grant, seal coating of Lake Hills parking, batting-cage remodels, new T-ball fields, concrete trail repairs, ball-field light upgrades, scoreboard replacements and Civic Park restroom and plumbing work.
Gabe said Gates Community Center is slated for completion in June and that the parks department expects to budget for furniture and equipment (tables, chairs and carts), with a rough furnishing cost estimate between $30,000 and $40,000. He said preliminary partnership work is underway with local schools and community organizations for events and workforce opportunities — for example, offering shop-class collaboration and volunteer cleanup days with Suncrest and other community partners.
Board members asked for prioritized, written cost estimates and for staff to return with numbers to allow the board to choose which projects to fund this year. Gabe said he would provide options and estimated costs and update the board at subsequent meetings. Several board members stressed the need to focus on a few high-priority items rather than spread the parks budget across many small projects.
No formal votes occurred on these capital and repair items at the January meeting; the discussion was recorded as direction to produce bids and cost options for future board consideration.
