By Charles Owens
For Bluefield Daily Telegraph
Bluefield — Now that city park is once again open for the season in Bluefield and drawing large crowds, work on several planned improvements to the facility should be getting underway soon.
In fact, the city is now actively seeking requests for proposals for three planned improvements, including a new walking track addition that will largely circle city park and for a new concrete addition to the city’s splash pad and a turf area for children to play, according to two legal advertisements in Wednesday’s edition of the Daily Telegraph.
As for the splash pad, the goal is to extend the splash pad area while also creating a nearby location where children can play on artificial turf, according to City Clerk and Assistant City Attorney Anthony Heltzel.
“We are going to be putting in or extending the area around the splash pad for seating, and outside of the concrete pads we are putting in approximately 3,700 square feet of turf so children will have a place to play,” Heltzel said. “So they will be putting in concrete decking around the splash area to make it wider.”
Heltzel compared the new splash pad concrete additions to that of decking around a pool deck.
The new turf area will consist of synthetic grass, according to Heltzel.
That way the city won’t have to worry about real grass being tracked into the splash pad area. It also won’t have to be mowed.
A new concession area and changing station also is still in the works for the splash pad, but Heltzel said officials want to get the concrete pad additions and the turf completed first.
“We are going to try to get it implemented as quickly as possible,” he said. “Once we lay down the concrete, we should be able to knock down that part as well.”
The new walking track area will extend from the vicinity of the Ridge Runner to the back of the park where the horse track used to be located.
“Those are going to be basically encompassing where the horse track used to be and going basically from up there to near the Ridge Runner and all the way down circulating that area and going around the splash pad zone and then all the way around the horse track area,” Heltzel said. “So it is effectively two big ovals and connecting the two ovals. And those are just walking pads. So if people wanted to take a walk through the park, they will have nice walkways to do it on. It makes it easier for handicapped accessibility around the park.”
The new walking track area also will allow more residents to view the Holiday of Lights on foot at city park.
“These are projects that we want to get off the ground to further improve the city and the city’s amenities to the citizens,” Heltzel said.
The requests for proposals on both projects are due back in early May.
Read more from the Bluefield Daily Telegraph, here