By BOB SHRALUKA
WZBD.com
It looks like Decatur is going to get a long-awaited dog park and adult softballers will be seeing an also long-awaited upgrade of the ball diamond at Bellmont Park project yet this year.
And how about a new skateboard park?
At its Tuesday night meeting, Decatur City Council unanimously authorized spending $180,000 in federal ARPA fund this year for those projects, plus constructing pickleball courts and a new sand volleyball court at Riverside Center, and a third pickleball court to join the two already in existence at the REV Sports Complex.
Adams County has kicked in $93,700 for that project.
The dog park (see photo of what’s already done) and the ball field upgrade are already on the agenda as the target of a city-authorized $50,000 capital campaign. If that amount can be raised before the first of August, a state CreatINg Places program will match the $50,000.
Before officially requesting the ARPA funds, Mayor Dan Rickord said he and Operations Manager Jeremy Gilbert have been working on the specifics of the projects “and would like to get them buttoned up this year.”
Gilbert noted that he “probably gets 10 calls a week” on when the dog park will open and also many calls on the pickleball courts situation.
“We have (cost) quotes on a lot of this stuff (projects) and could probably get them done this year,” Gilbert pointed out.
“One thing about these projects is that they are for people of all ages,” the mayor added.
The condition of the ball field in Kekionga Park has been a thorn in the side of the city for some time. The adult men’s slo-pitch league lost their spot when the REV complex was initiated three or four years ago. “They were told they would get something as good or better, but it hasn’t happened,” Rickord said. “We really need to do this for them.”
Part of an upgrade of the diamond – where co-ed softball is also played – has been slowed by the fact that it sits in a flood plain and the state has made some demands on improvements.
The mayor pointed out that the adults who use the ball field are already working on some fundraising of their own
A project tossed into the list of projects just a couple of weeks ago is a revamping of the skateboard park at North Ward Park, across Fifth St. from the city pool.
Rickord said he and some other officials have been meeting with a group of skateboarders “and they are a great group of kids to work with.”
America Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds were sent out all over the country to aid relief efforts in the wake of the pandemic. Decatur received approximately $1.2 million and currently has about $936,000 left, before the $180,000 expenditure.
One requirement of receiving the funds is that they must be allocated by next year.
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