New park proposed by Decatur committee

— A park could be in works for Decatur, the parks and recreation committee voted on 14 to move forward plans to apply for a grant to purchase and develop piece of property between Hill and Buckner Streets

The preliminary plan is to create a small parking area on the property and add a few picnic tables, a swing set and a slide, Mayor Charles Linam said. The property was previously owned by Virginia Brown and is now owned by Joe Gibbons.

“It's a beautiful area and we can buy it quite reasonably,” he said.

Linam told the committee the estimated total cost for the purchase and development is $40,000.

The city can apply for a 50 percent matching grant from the Arkansas State Parks Outdoor Recreation Grants Program to help cover the costs of the new park, Linam said.The deadline for the grant application is Aug. 20.

A public hearing will be scheduled before the July city council meeting. Linam said he is working with an artist to prepare a rendering of the proposed park for the public hearing.

“The committee was very enthusiastic about it,” he said.

News, Pages 2 on 06/22/2011