City holds meeting to gain public input on park plans

Photo by Randy Moll Gentry's mayor, Kevin Johnston (center), talks to council members Jason Barrett and Janice Arnold about park locations in the city of Gentry and possible uses of those locations for amenities such as baseball diamonds, soccer fields and more at an information gathering meeting in the McKee Community Room at the Gentry Public Library on Oct. 30. Nathan Street of McClelland Consulting Engineers, of Fayetteville, was looking at a map of future park land which was on display.
Photo by Randy Moll Gentry's mayor, Kevin Johnston (center), talks to council members Jason Barrett and Janice Arnold about park locations in the city of Gentry and possible uses of those locations for amenities such as baseball diamonds, soccer fields and more at an information gathering meeting in the McKee Community Room at the Gentry Public Library on Oct. 30. Nathan Street of McClelland Consulting Engineers, of Fayetteville, was looking at a map of future park land which was on display.

— A meeting to gain input from citizens on future park plans was held on Monday, Oct. 30, in the McKee Community Room of the Gentry Public Library.

The meeting hosted by the city of Gentry and with a representative from McClelland Consulting Engineers present to gather input from those in attendance was held so the engineering firm could learn more about the desires of Gentry residents in its work to prepare an overall park plan for the city to best utilize available parklands for future development.

A variety of maps were available to show residents the lands the city owns and plans to use for parks. A presentation was also on display from a recent online survey conducted by the city in an attempt to determine the wants and desires of Gentry citizens. Nathan Street of McClelland Consulting Engineers, Fayetteville, asked residents about their current park use and of amenities they would like to have available for use in Gentry's park system.

The meeting was held to assist the city in determining which park amenities the city should include in developing parklands and how best to utilize those lands to include those amenities. Included in those lands were parcels along the railroad tracks between S. Smith Avenue and the city cemetery which the city recently purchased and intends to purchase.

According to online surveys conducted by the city over the last two years, a splash pad ranked at the top of wishes, with playgrounds and sidewalks and walking trails also being high on the list. Other top-ranking wishes included pavilions, park benches and picnic tables. A large-event pavilion, dog park, exercise stations and mountain bike trails were on the list, along with fields and courts for baseball, soccer, basketball, tennis and volleyball.

Downtown revitalization was ranked among the highest on the list of important projects for the city to accomplish. Sidewalks, pavilions and play equipment ranked highest in the listing of amenities survey takers said they currently use.

Also asked in one survey was whether residents would be willing to adopt and pay an additional 7/8-cent sales tax to support park expansion and make other quality-of-life improvements in Gentry. According to the online survey, roughly 79 percent of the survey takers said they favored the additional tax. Twenty-one percent said no.

The sales and use tax increase has been proposed by Gentry mayor Kevin Johnston as a way to level the playing field by collecting the same percentage as Siloam Springs and many other neighboring cities and to pay for a variety of city improvements including park amenities.

Attendance at the meeting was somewhat sparse at first but good in the early evening hours, following the workday. Street said he gained much useful information from local residents to assist in the planning process.

General News on 11/08/2017