Renovations at Noble E. Young Park in Tyler will include two walking trails, tearing down and redoing the pavilion and restroom facilities and adding exercise equipment.

Updates to Noble E. Young Park and the start of construction at Stewart Park were approved Wednesday by the Tyler City Council.

Noble E. Young Park, at 3125 Seaton St., will be redesigned by Halff Associates, said Adriana Rodriguez, city spokeswoman. Discussion about the design portion of the project is planned to begin next week.

To be in compliance with the Community Development Grant Program that will fund the project, the majority of renovations to the park must be completed by Aug. 1, Rodriguez said.

“It’s going to be almost a complete renovation of the park,” she said.

Renovations at Noble E. Young will include two walking trails, tearing down and redoing the pavilion and restroom facilities and adding exercise equipment, some of which will be all inclusive so residents with disabilities can use them, Rodriguez added.

It’s unknown at this point if the park will have to be shut down once construction starts, she said. If possible, the work will happen in phases so community members can still use the facility.

“We hope that these improvements will transform the park into a true neighborhood park,” Rodriguez said.

The land where Stewart Park is located west of Frankston Highway and northwest of Old Noonday in the 0457 J. Haynie Abstract, has not been transformed into a public park, she said. The 9 acres of land was donated in 2012 with the intention of a park being built there.

The deed that came with the land states, “No construction or other activity relating to the park shall be commenced until Lois White and J.D. White are both deceased,” according to the city.

In August 2020, Lois White passed away, and the city now is in the process of turning the land into a public park.

Funding for construction at Stewart Park is coming from The Legacy Trail grant, awarded to the city by the Texas Department of Transportation.

The grant is enough to cover Phase 1 of the Stewart Park project, which is the construction of a trail that would extend to the Rose Garden Complex and include benches, lights, water fountains and a parking area, Rodriguez said. The park will open to visitors after Phase 1 is completed.

The goal of this project is to connect Stewart Park to the Rose Garden Complex and eventually connect Rose Rudman Park to Stewart so people can ride their bikes or walk all the way from Gresham to the complex, Rodriguez said.

Construction on Stewart Park is set to begin either late 2022 or early 2023, she added.