Watkins Park moves closer to completion
A contract the Hot Springs Board of Directors awarded earlier this week will complete the second phase of the David F. Watkins Memorial Tunnel Park and put the community space on track to open by next summer, the city said.
The $175,000 project awarded to Goslee Construction will build a stage opposite amphitheater seating rising from the banks of the Park Avenue tributary of Hot Springs Creek that traverses the park. Sidewalks, a retaining wall, electrical, lighting and plumbing facilities are also included in the contract.
The balance of the $230,000 Arkansas Department of Parks and Tourism Outdoor Recreation Grant the city was awarded last year and $230,000 match paid by the city and private donations will go toward the third phase, which includes building a restroom, playground and bridge over the creek. The city said it can open the park when the third phase is completed.
More money will be needed for design features such as a splash pad. City Director of Parks and Trails Anthony Whittington said the Park Avenue Community Association and the Hot Springs Civitan Club
are raising money for additional design elements. A scope of work prepared earlier this year estimated a $34,500 cost for the splash pad.
City Manager Bill Burrough told the board the city hopes to make the playground all-inclusive, allowing children with disabilities and their nondisabled peers to use the same equipment and not be segregated.
“We’re looking at an all-inclusive playground that will be for any child, whether they may be in a wheelchair or not,” he said. “Hopefully we’ll be able to get a little more money into that budget and make that happen. It will be the only all-inclusive playground we have in our suite of parks.”
The city’s acquisition of the former Kloss Motel, 811 Park Ave., in 2014 began the blighted half-acre property’s transformation into an inviting community space. The city acquired it for
$35,000 and demolished the hotel later that year.
It elected to leave the creek exposed after the archway over it collapsed under the weight of a grader spreading topsoil in
2015. The amphitheater the city constructed on the creek bank with Community Development Block Grant funds doubles as a flood management tool, collecting stormwater that would otherwise flow downtown. The bioswale the city added with a $3,500 grant from the National Association of Realtors filters debris and pollutants from runoff entering the creek
Goslee and JRBE Construction both bid on the second phase of the project, with Goslee’s $175,000 bid beating JRBE’s $265,000 quote. The park honors the late David Watkins, the former city manager who died in 2015.