El Centro targeting more than $15 million in grants for parks
EL CENTRO — The California Department of Parks and Recreation will be awarding nearly $255 million in Proposition 68 funding by year’s end for parks in underserved communities across California, and the City Council heard the Parks & Recreation Department’s strategy to secure as much as $15.2 million of it.
The council Tuesday gave the department its blessing to apply for five grants for the current round of Prop. 68 funding. These grants would be for projects at specific parks throughout the city. The projects the city is currently proposing are the Town Square Event Center, Swarthout Sports Complex, Gomez Community Dog Park, Stark Field and McGee Park.
To be eligible for funding, a project must create a new park, expand an existing park or renovate an existing park. An eligible project must also expand or renovate at least one recreation feature, such as a splash pad, an amphitheater, athletic fields, athletic courts, a dog park, a jogging/walking loop, outdoor exercise equipment, open space or a playground.
Community Services Director Adriana Nava told the council the minimum grant application for Prop. 68 funds must be for at least $200,000, but no more than $8.5 million. However, there is no cap on the number of applications a community may submit, and no community match is required to receive funding.
“So we’re submitting as many as we can prepare,” she said.
California Consulting Inc., a firm that specializes in grant writing, has assisted in preparing the grant proposals, Nava said, and the city itself has done “a lot of outreach” to collect public input.
The latter has included booths at the Food Truck Fiesta, the Air Show at Naval Air Facility El Centro, the Children’s Fair and the Beyond Borders event at San Diego State University-Imperial Valley. It’s also included suggestion boxes at the various park locations, outreach on social media and more.
Grant proposals will be graded on a 100-point scale, Nava said, and will take into account issues such as location and available park space, community input, operation and maintenance considerations, and merits of the project in terms of need, community benefit and project readiness.
“We’ve selected park sites that were parallel to the community’s desires but also that maximized the number of points that we were going to get,” Nava said.
The first proposal was for the Town Square Event Center downtown. Proposed improvements under the $4.5 million project include a new amphitheater with a raised stage, state-of-the-art lighting, sound systems, a giant projector screen and a covered roof over the stage. Seating areas will be lawn level sections for better visibility. There would also be the addition of a building with restrooms, storage and concession stands, interactive play/fitness area, new security lighting, metal fencing around the site, decorative perimeter fencing and updates to the façade.
The proposed project site is “quite blighted,” Nava admitted.
“We think that this could be a catalyst for our downtown, and it could help us revitalize this area and it could be used by the community again.”
The Swarthout Sports Complex on Euclid Avenue would be another $4.5 million project. Proposed improvements include renovating and reconfiguring the existing softball fields, renovating the existing soccer field, installing a new basketball court with lighting, installing LED field lighting and adding new perimeter fencing, batting cages, horseshoe pits, landscaping and irrigation. Plus the parking lot would be resealed and striped, new sail shades would be installed over the picnic area, the playground would be renovated, and concrete walkways would be added.
Improvements to Gomez Community Dog Park off South Hope Street would include a new dog park with amenities, renovation and expansion of the existing parking lot with lighting, a new walking path, new perimeter metal fencing, a new exercise equipment area, new security lighting, a new Ramada picnic area, a new irrigation system and new landscaping. Cost for the project would be $1.5 million.
The $2.5 million proposal for Stark Field would renovate existing softball fields into football fields, add LED field lighting, a new basketball court with lighting, new batting cages, a new Ramada picnic area, renovated parking with lighting, new landscaping and a new irrigation system.
McGee Park on East Brighton Avenue would get spruced up to the tune of $2.2 million. Proposed improvements include renovating the existing football/soccer field with an irrigation system, adding LED field lighting, building a new basketball court with lighting, adding a walking path, installing exercise equipment stations, adding perimeter fencing and landscaping, adding lighting in the parking lot and constructing a metal building for the Parks and Rec Department.
Applications must be postmarked or hand-delivered by Aug. 5. Grants will be awarded by Dec. 31. Projects much be complete and open to the public by March 2022.