City Council hears, accepts Port Arthur Parks and Recreation Master Plan

Published 11:53 pm Tuesday, November 7, 2023

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City leaders received their first look Tuesday at a proposed Parks and Recreation Master Plan as presented by Burditt Consultants.

Paul Howard with Burditt said the challenge in creating the plan is Port Arthur has so many parks, many of which just need a facelift, some new features and life breathed into them, and staff was having a hard time getting their arms around the whole problem.

The plan shows a number of general parks improvements and four areas that Burditt recommends larger renovations. They include Staff Sgt. Lucian Adams Park, Rose Hill Park, Jared N. Logan Music Park and Cecil Reynolds Park.

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Adams Park is currently being master planned at a detailed level under a separate project, as well as Rose Hill Park, according to Howard.

“So there’s a master plan effort going on to come up with concepts and statements of probable cost for what that’s going to take to implement and looking at funding methods for addressing needs at those two parks,” Howard said.

Logan Park on Pleasure Island has been closed for a number of years due to storm damage. Burditt sees the park as a great opportunity to bring back music events and other types of events. Stakeholder outreach from residents showed many miss the opportunities at Logan Park.

Councilmember Doneane Beckcom asked Howard about the feasibility study portion listed about Logan Park.

“We believe that that one really needs to dig deeper into a concept for development that goes all the way down to the level of building systems, because the difference between, for instance, an event venue like Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion in The Woodlands, Texas, which is massive in the structure on there, although attended, and Park is also a hard structure, as well. It’s going to be a different level of investment than some others on the market, as well,” Howard said.

Then there’s the level of investment that would need to be looked at in terms of financial performance and capital costs.

Councilmembers approved the Parks and Recreation Master Plan in other action after the presentation.

The plan is being used as a guide in planning and decision making for investment and developments for the next 10 years, according to Chandra Alpough, director of parks and recreation.