LAKEPORT — Construction on the Westside Community Park ended for the year in late October with initial earthwork on the south portion of the park having been completed.
Personnel worked on the five-acre portion of park land intended to consist of one full-size baseball field, one Little League size baseball and softball field, one full-size soccer field and two small soccer fields.
Dennis Rollins, chairman of the Westside Community Park Committee, said the facilities should be completed during the 2011 construction season. “We”ll have it done in October,” he said.
The sports fields will also include bleachers, picnic tables, dugouts and scorekeeper areas, according to the park”s master plan.
The 2010 construction season began May 5 with the collection of soil samples, followed by initial earthwork and irrigation planning, Rollins said. On Oct. 14, workers began doing erosion control on the land, which they completed on Oct. 29.
Rollins said the committee had hoped more work would have been completed to help prevent the effects of erosion and other winter issues.
“I had really hoped we would have finished the irrigation and the grass planted, but I”m certainly happy with what we did finish,” Rollins said.
The work during the 2010 construction season was funded by a grant from the Pacific Forest and Watershed Lands Stewardship Council, Rollins said. The private organization awarded the committee a $200,000 grant in 2009 to fund work on the ball fields.
The land on which the new fields will sit had been city-owned land for wastewater disbursement and consisted primarily of sewage ponds that were filled during 2009, Rollins said.
The new ball fields are one part of the master plan”s second phase, which also includes the future construction of a BMX track, skateboard park and parking lot on land directly south of the ball fields.
The committee has not found funding for the BMX and skateboard facilities and has asked local people interested in those activities to help with funding, Rollins said.
“We”re in a good position to proceed when we find the money,” Rollins said about the BMX and skateboard parks.
The committee, with the help of the city of Lakeport, applied for grant support from the state”s Proposition 84 funding pool but received word in early November that its application had been denied, according to Lakeport city manager Margaret Silveira.
Proposition 84 allows the state to help fund land improvement projects in a number of categories, including local park development and improvement.
Silveira said Proposition 84 provides the biggest state-funding source. The city plans to assist in writing another grant proposal for the 2011 round of Proposition 84 applications, according to Silveira.
Rollins said the city of Lakeport has provided only basic financial help but has donated construction equipment, helped with grant writing and maintains completed parts of the park.
The bulk of park funding has come from local donors and private organizations, and local businesses have provided equipment and materials, Rollins said.
Granite Construction Company donated more than 20,000 tons of asphalt grinding from its repaving work on Highway 29, Rollins said. The grindings are currently being stored at the park.
The committee also conducted its first on-site fundraising event during 2010. Grillin” on the Green was a barbecue contest also featuring musical entertainment and children”s activities. Rollins said the event raised more than $16,000.
Also completed this year was the paving of portions of the Forbes Creek Trail, a nearly two-mile trail surrounding the park”s perimeter.
In total the committee plans to develop nearly 100 acres of former city wastewater disbursement land. The master plan has divided the projects into five phases to be completed sequentially, Rollins said.
The first phase was completed in 2004, consisting of two soccer fields, a parking lot, a waterline and a newly paved road named Westside Community Park Road. A dog park across from the soccer fields was completed in 2008.
Future facilities described in the master plan include playgrounds, more baseball and soccer fields, picnic areas, mixed-use courts, bocce ball courts, storage areas and a horse arena.
Contact Jeremy Walsh at jwalsh@record-bee.com or call him at 263-5636, ext. 37.
