Springdale to debut renovated park

SPRINGDALE — Murphy Park will officially reopen during the Murphy in May event on Friday after more than a year of renovations.

The park at 501 S. Pleasant St. has been open to the public for the past couple of weeks, according to Melissa Reeves, public relations director for the city.

The event will feature a Northwest Arkansas-area band and food vendors. Admission is free. The celebration comes after extensive renovations that began in late 2015.

“Murphy Park is one of Springdale’s oldest and most heavily used parks, and it was time for an upgrade,” Reeves said.

The city contracted with JLA Construction of Springfield, Mo., to renovate the 62-year-old park in September 2015. The work was supposed to be completed in November.

“One of the biggest reasons the park was delayed was because Springdale Water Utility had to relocate the water and sewer line [from] under the pond to avoid rupturing in the future. It’s one of the [city’s] oldest parks, so everything under the park is also very old,” Reeves said.

Heath Ward, Springdale Water Utilities director, said the work on the water and sewer line took a couple of months.

“Nobody knows why the line was placed [beneath the pond]. It’s lost in local history,” Ward said.

Renovations included draining the pond, adding three fountains and replacing the bathrooms. The park had two pavilions. One was torn down and will be replaced by Springdale Parks and Recreation. The other will remain untouched, Reeves said.

Parks and Recreation Director Bill Mock said a concrete wall was built along the pond’s interior.

Alderman Rick Culver, who is one of the two aldermen who represent the ward where the park is located, lauded the renovations.

“I think the park is something to be very proud of with the new pavilions and retaining wall around the pond,” Culver said. “I think the upgrades and us redoing the park is something good for our citizens, because it does get used. You go out there on the weekend and it is packed.”

Sew Agibou is an Arkansas Support Network employee who assists handicapped residents. He and a client went to Murphy Park on Thursday.

“It’s a great park,” Agibou said. “We have a lot of people coming down here because of the [pond].”

Recent rain that caused extensive flash flooding refilled the pond, Reeves said.

The original contract for renovations was $1.27 million. So far the city has paid $1.10 million, Reeves said.

“We won’t have a final amount until the contract is closed out,” she said.

Walter Turnbow Park, near the City Administration Building and Razorback Regional Greenway in downtown Springdale, is scheduled for completion June 13. Milestone Construction of Springdale is building that park.

“Milestone is currently helping repair damage caused by the flood to the greenway, so those [completion] dates are subject to change,” Reeves said. “The floods did not cause any setback to Turnbow.”

Milestone took over the contract to finish the park in December after the city pulled the contract from JLA, which could not complete the park’s design. JLA had been awarded the $1.5 million contract in December 2015.

The city also plans to build a 120-acre park off Ball Road in the city’s northwest section. The city paid $1.37 million for the land in November 2012, according to Reeves.

“Right now it’s just a beautiful nature park. People can walk around and look at deer that frolic through there,” she said.

The city will likely develop the northwest park if a bond resolution is passed in 2018, Reeves said.

“We plan to have a section of that [bond issue] dedicated to parks,” she said.

Mayor Doug Sprouse expressed his hopes for the new park, saying, “Springdale has the most beautiful parks in Northwest Arkansas.”