Sonora’s Woods Creek Park will get $200K in upgrades

Sonora’s elected city council on Monday approved a $200,000 project to build a new basketball court at Woods Creek Rotary Park, resurface cushioned flooring in the playground area, replace a roof structure over picnic tables, and add more benches and lighting.

A city plan shows the new basketball court will be built between a restrooms building and the fenced ballfield at the park.

Cushioned flooring in the playground area is still soft and spongy enough to absorb children’s falls, but cracks and holes are evident in parts of the flooring surface.

Some beams in the roof structure over the picnic tables are rotting and some planks in the roofing are showing signs of infestation. A mature willow tree next to Woods Creek that fell before record-setting rains in late October slightly damaged the roof structure.

Grant explorations and procedures to fund the park improvements project were in the works at least two years before late October rains contributed to the willow tree uprooting and falling.

The council voted 4-0 Monday to approve moving forward with the park improvements. Council members Ann Segerstrom, Mark Plummer, Colette Such and Jim Garaventa were present. Mayor

Matt Hawkins was absent.

The park improvements have been identified as a key goal in the city’s 202122 operating and capital improvement budget, which earmarked $200,000 for the project. City staff said in a report that it will be funded primarily from the state Parks and Water Bond Act of 2018 Per Capita Grant Program.

The city’s grant allocation from the program is $177,952. Sonora qualifies for the grant funding as a severely disadvantaged community — due to a median household income less than 60% of the statewide average — so city matching funds are not required under the grant.

The grant funding comes from the state Drought, Water, Parks, Climate, Coastal Protection and Outdoor Access for All Act of 2018 under Proposition 68, which includes funds for local park rehabilitation, creation and improvements, city Community Development Director Rachelle Kellogg said in a staff report.

A project application phase originally scheduled in 2020 was delayed a year due to COVID-19. An application is due to the state on or before Dec. 31.

City staff hope to receive a grant contract for the project on or before June 1 and complete it by Dec. 31, 2023.

The funding requires the project to be completed by March 31, 2024.

Courtesy art / City of Sonora (left); Guy Mccarthy / Union Democrat (all others) A project at Woods Creek Park approved Monday by the Sonora City Council (left) has planned improvements including construction of a basketball court in an area between the existing restrooms and ballfield (bottom), removal and replacement of the shade structure (bottom left), new surfacing material under the existing play structure (below), and lighting and benches.