|
Road going in at Benton park |
|
|
Wednesday, 02 April 2008 |
 A ROAD is being built on the old Watts Field airport off Airlane Drive in Benton to serve as a new entrance to Bernard Holland Park. The work also will allow for additional parking at the park, which is used for softball games. (Courier photo by Matt Burks)
Courier StaffConstruction is under way on a new entry for Bernard Holland Park.
The drive is a joint project of the Benton Parks Commission and the Benton Advertising and Promotion Commission, which are sharing the funding for the $50,000 project.
Work is expected to be completed by the end of April, Mayor Rick Holland said today.
The parks department will fund $17,000 of the cost and the A&P Commission will be responsible for the remaining $33,000, Holland said.
“This will not be a roadway open to large trucks and commercial traffic,” Holland said. “It will be gated, and used when the parks department is using the park. Its use will be regulated by the parks department.
The road will help traffic flow when the Wally Hall Invitational Softball Tournament is played Memorial Day Weekend, Holland said.
“I think we’re on schedule to have it done,” he said. “We’re building it in-house and working on it as weather permits.”
Street department employees are building the drive. “Any expenses they incur such as diesel fuel will be reimbursed in the street department,” Holland said.
The driveway is being built across what was formerly the runway of the old Saline County airport, or Watts Field, and is to be used strictly for overflow parking, city officials have said. “It is not being designated as a public street,” Holland said.
The City Council resolution approving the drive noted that the creation of the driveway will not provide the Parks Commission with any permanent vested rights to the property or the driveway. Use of the property by the commission is consensual and may be terminated at any time by the city, the document states.
A divided City Council approved the road work, with Holland having to vote to pass the resolution.
Alderman Brad Moore, one of the council members who supported project, said the drive will “facilitate a better flow of traffic” at Bernard Holland Park.
Moore serves on the A&P Commission. He has said that the softball tournament will generate around $1 million for the local economy. More than 100 teams reportedly are signed up to participate.
The airport site is scheduled for economic development, city officials have said. Planned development was among the factors noted in refusing a recent request to build a drag strip at the site. That request received the support of nearly 5,000 people who signed a petition supporting a drag strip.
Alderman Steve Lee, one of the five council members who voted against building the access drive, contended that building the roadway represented a “waste of taxpayer dollars.”
He said softball players and fans don’t care about walking some distance to the game site. “All they want to do is play on a nice field,” he said. “They don’t care about driveways ... .”
Alderman Joe Lee Richards also objected to the project, saying the city should be paid for the site. Initially, he said the area involved was to encompass only three acres and he had no objection to providing that amount of land. He said he changed his mind after the area increased to nine acres.
“We need to be paid for it,” Richards said in the council meeting.
|
Razorbacks
