Posted 9:59 pm Friday, May 04, 2012
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Kid-Friendly: Funding In Place For Children’s Park
By KELLY GOOCH
Staff Writer
Staff Writer
Youngsters will have a new place to run and enjoy the outdoors once a children's park is constructed in Bullard.
The park, slated to be built on a site south of the city park, is estimated to cost $150,000 with the Bullard Rotary Club handling the majority of its funding and other local committees also raising money.
It will be constructed from recyclable materials, and all low-maintenance materials will come pre-engineered to Bullard, Guy Martin, a rotary club member, said. The design, though, is still up in the air.
"Children will have a lot of input on the actual design of the park and the scenes that would be expressed in the park ..." Martin said.
"We may have some local themes (like the railroad). There's no telling what the children will pick up on."
Initially, the idea for the park came from a conversation with a couple of mothers.
One went to a similar park in another part of the country and another went to one in Longview, Martin said, and they wondered whether Bullard could have a park like they saw. So the idea got to the rotary club, and members found an architectural company in New York called Leathers & Associates, which creates community-built playgrounds.
The rotary club funded the initial cost of the project to get consultants involved, and on Tuesday, the company will meet with children at Bullard ISD and The Brook Hill School.
Martin said a consultant is then expected to draw a design that afternoon and present it that evening at Bullard Elementary School, 2008 Panther Crossing. The meeting is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. and is open to the public.
The community will then assemble the playground likely late this year or early next year. The process is expected to take two weekends, but once completed, Martin said he believes it will be beneficial.
"It's going to bring a lot of people into Bullard," he said. "This is the style of facility that moms and grandmothers like to be able to bring children to. It's just going to be a big draw for Bullard. It's not only going to be a recreational resource but an economic resource for the community."
Bullard Elementary School Assistant Principal Donna Jeffus agreed, saying, "Bullard is a very rapidly gro-wing community with many young families, and I'm sure with nice weekends it will bring revenue to the city."
