Meetings about finishing DeGarmo Park coming
CHICO » Three more meetings about how DeGarmo Community Park should be finished are planned by the Chico Area Recreation and Park District.
The next one, on Saturday, will be an in-person gathering with social distancing and masks.
All but one are Zoom meetings, and links will be provided on the CARD website or emailed.
One in- person meeting is planned at the park with masks and social distancing required. That is 11 a.m. to noon Saturday, Oct. 17. The online meetings will be 6 to 7 p.m. Oct. 19; and 6 to 7 p.m. Oct. 27.
DeGarmo Park was never finished in part because of finances, but CARD has the opportunity to apply for a state grant to finish the park, which is just south of Shasta Elementary School at The Esplanade and Leora Court in north Chico.
Proposition 68 would provide from $200,000 to $8.5 million in an approved grant. CARD is collecting ideas of how nearby residents and the community would like to finish the 14 undeveloped acres. It won’t be until a plan is designed that the specific cost would be developed.
There are already plans for other features in the park’s master plan. The park master plan includes more multi-use fields, a gym and an aquatics center, but the latter two items are too expensive to tackle right now, as well as not quite meeting the requirements of the grant.
Community input is critical, according to CARD General Manager Ann Willmann, which is why CARD has developed a survey and the meetings.
The survey is on CARD’s website www.chicorec.com and provides choices of features that the survey taker can prioritize, along with an option for write-in features not listed.
“We want to get a fresh set of eyes on the land. It’s finding what the community wants,” Willmann said.
For a project to qualify, it must be in an area that has less than three acres of parkland per 1,000 residents or the median income of those living in the project area must be $56,982 or lower. In addition, the project must be open seven days a week for aminimum of three hours per day with a minimal entrance fee.
The outreach is planned this month, with analyzing the information in November and applying by Dec. 14.
DeGarmo has been built out in several stages as CARD identified funds. The first phase opened in 2006 with softball fields and a picnic structure. The second phase in 2010with soccer fields, playground and another picnic pavilion. The dog park was added later.