Parks officials unveil upgrades for Arroyo Grande Sports Complex

By Jeremy Twitchell

Saturday, Oct. 4, 2008 | 10:17 p.m.

Henderson Parks and Recreation officials unveiled the city’s new vision for the Arroyo Grande Sports Complex on Thursday to the delight of some residents and chagrin of some of the facility’s neighbors.

The plan calls for improved drainage on the four softball fields on the park’s south side, a pedestrian footbridge over the wash that separates the north and south sides, shade structures over all of the park’s bleachers and playgrounds, a tournament plaza with an additional picnic structure, additional parking and, in the detention basin in the park’s northeast corner, a dirt BMX bicycle course and a dog park.

The project is being planned by EDAW, an international landscape architecture and urban planning firm. Project planners said their goal is to restore the one-time nationally award-winning park to its former glory.

“The idea is why can’t it be like that again, and just be a stellar sports facility for the city of Henderson,” EDAW representative Jana McKenzie said at the public meeting where the plan was unveiled. “The facilities are kind of declining, they’re getting a little bit old and they need some sprucing up.”

In addition to improving the park’s nine fields — four little league, four softball and one baseball — McKenzie said the idea was to add amenities to make it more useful to the larger community.

The BMX course would be the city’s first, though another one is in the planning stages at Robert Taylor Elementary School.

Residents who live near the park opposed the idea of a BMX park because of dust, liability issues for the city, the cost of maintaining the course and the potential for increased crime and vandalism at their homes. A small parking lot would be built next to the BMX park.

Though the city pledged to address each of those issues by adding compounds to the dirt that would limit the dust and containing the course within its own fence, neighbor Martine Jordan said she was not convinced.

“A park is a park,” said Jordan, whose home backs up against the corner of the Arroyo Grande Sports Complex where the BMX track would be built. “Kids are going to hang out there, teenagers are going to hang out there, and I just wish (the city) would think about the people who live along there.”

Jordan said she is also worried about having constant dog noise behind her house.

“We were told by the city that they weren’t going to build anything there because of the flooding issues. Now, they’re talking about building a lot,” she said.

Other nearby residents, however, responded positively to the plan.

“I think it looks great,” resident Pete Elton said. “I don’t agree with the dissenters. I personally think a BMX park is a great idea. I know my kids will get a lot of use out of it.”

The city has received $8.3 million for the project through the Southern Nevada Public Lands Management Act, which allows municipalities in Southern Nevada to nominate parcels of federal land belonging to the Bureau of Land Management for public auction. After the land is sold, the municipalities can apply to the BLM for funding for parks and trails projects.

McKenzie said the city will have to select priorities from the proposed master plan because it will not be able to get them all for $8.3 million.

“Honestly, I think there’s probably not enough money to do everything that’s in the plan, so we’re probably going to have to break it into pieces and do parts of it.”

The next step for the plan will be to gain approval from the Henderson Parks and Recreation Board, which is a group of citizens appointed by the City Council. If the board approves the plan, the City Council will decide whether to put it out for bid.

Jeremy Twitchell can be reached at 990-8928 or [email protected].