Since the park is only in its conceptual stage, no funding has been set aside or planned for the park, according to Temple Parks and Leisure Services officials.
Kim Mettenbrink, designer for the parks department, said the facility could be located on about 75 acres on a segment of land between Airport Road and Old Waco Road.
“What we realized was that on that side of town we needed a park and we have land available,” she said.
“We are deficient in athletic fields on the west side of Temple,” she added. “That is an area where we have a great amount of residential growth.”
Ms. Mettenbrink said the park could include:
n Eight baseball/softball fields (four adult fields and four youth fields)
n Four soccer fields
n A 1.5-mile hike and bike trail, and a possible nature trail.
She said the trails could tie in to a greenbelt park and trail system along Pepper Creek in the area.
“It will be a huge local draw, given the void of fields in the western side of town,” she said. “But we feel it will also be a regional draw for visitors and tournaments.”
The city can benefit from hotel/motel tax brought in by visitors coming in for games.
Ken Cicora, parks and Leisure Services director, said there is no timeline yet for the park.
“I would hope it would be the next time the city considers a bond election for parks and recreation,” he said, adding that five years might be a rough guess.
Temple voters approved a $9.75 million parks bond in 2007.
“The location is good because it will be just off the new Outer Loop in a neighborhood setting, as well as next to medical research facilities being built out there,” Cicora said. “We probably could not find a better location.”
He said the need for a facility in that area came up by way of city surveys.
“As we have done our surveys, more and more we are getting a lot of folks on the western side of town asking when we will be able to build a facility out there because there is a need,” he said.
