City homers with park design and financing
City homers with park design and financing Baseball and softball are summer mainstays for America’s communities, but, in the early ’90s, Atlanta, Texas, was without municipal ballfields. For years, the city’s youth had played ball in private leagues at facilities owned by the Atlanta Dixie Baseball/Softball Association (ADBSA).
By 1993, as Atlanta sought funding for a new park, the ADBSA determined that its facilities needed extensive repairs. The city of 6,100 residents incorporated ballfields into the park design, and the result is a parks and recreation – and financing – home run.
The proposed site for the park was the home of the former Atlanta Brick Company and a small gauge railroad. Although 88 acres were readily available, land purchase and development funding was not. At the urging of local residents, Atlanta applied for and received a $500,000 grant from the Texas Department of Parks and Wildlife. The grant required a minimum match of $500,000, and the city immediately approved an expenditure of $100,000 to assist with the land purchase. For the remainder of the match, the city issued certificates of obligation to be repaid with non-tax revenues.
Atlanta found a wide variety of solutions for meeting the non-tax stipulation: * It implemented a voluntary park fee, which it placed on all monthly water bills ($1 for residents; $2 for commercial customers). On average, the city receives contributions on 50 to 60 percent of its bills, and, with 2,500 water/sewer customers, it expects to raise $15,000 to $20,000 annually for repayment of those certificates. * It entered into an agreement with Atlanta Independent School District and the ADBSA, allowing the organizations to use the new park facilities in exchange for a combined annual fee of $21,000. * It secured commitments from private citizens and businesses to ensure $6,000 per year through 2009. * It sold advertising space on the field reserved for varsity baseball. Construction of Atlanta City Park began in spring 1998 and was completed in March 1999. The city’s public works crews and Cass County roads crews assisted with road construction; a local utility company helped handle lighting infrastructure and installation; and residents and businesses pitched in with labor.
The $1 million park includes eight lighted baseball and softball fields; a concession stand and restroom facility; a 2-acre pond with an ADA-compliant walking trail; a playground; and an equestrian trail. Additionally, the local Lion’s Club built a covered pavilion.
Today, 700 to 800 children play on Atlanta’s new ballfields. The ADBSA still is managing the leagues, and local leaders see no need to change that. The teamwork between the public and private recreation worlds has produced a park that the entire community can enjoy, and a long-term revenue stream to back it up.