Council approves grant for outdoor fitness court

 

The City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to approve a resolution that will eventually lead to the construction of an outdoor fitness court to be located either in Steeplechase Park or on Marketplace Avenue between the Burleson Road roundabout and Plum Creek. The ultimate location could be decided by how the park is paid for.

Aimee Garcia, a recreational programmer in the city’s Parks and Recreation Department, told the council the fitness court would cost $130,000, with $25,000 of that cost coming from a grant award from the National Fitness Campaign. Tuesday’s council vote was required to trigger the awarding of that grant. Garcia also said the city’s staff chose the Marketplace Drive location because that was considered “the center of Kyle and that was something NFC wanted to bring as well. They wanted to see something centralized that everyone gets the opportunity to utilize.”

However, Mayor Travis Mitchell and council member Robert Rizo pushed for the fitness court to be located on the east side of I-35, with Steeplechase Park being their preferred location. Council member Dex Ellison also seemed to favor the east side location. Council member Yvonne Flores-Cale, however, was adament in her support of the staff’s recommended location and Mayor Pro Tem Rick Koch and council member Ashlee Bradshaw seemed to be leaning in that direction as well.

The current plan is for the remaining $105,000 of the court’s costs to come from the Park Land Dedication Fund, although Garcia, along with Parks and Recreation Director Mariana Espinoza, said they will be soliciting donations from private sources. Garcia said she has already had preliminary talks with Starbucks about a contribution. Money in the Park Land Dedication Fund comes from developers who contribute to the fund in lieu of installing otherwise required park-style amenities in their own developments.

City Manager Scott Sellers told the council the developer that dedicated the 13.5 acres for the Marketplace location could be seeking to create a public improvement district to cover infrastructure costs at the proposed development and that PID could also include the $105,000 for the fitness court. Mitchell and Rizzo agreed that the formation of such a PID would force them to agree to place the court at the Marketplace location; however, if the $105,000 was going to come from the Park Land Dedication Fund, they would prefer the Steeplechase Park location.

Garcia reminded the council that the Marketplace location would be connected to Steeplechase Park by the Plum Creek Trail which will eventually burrow under I-35. The Marketplace Fitness Court would be located at the trailhead, she said. Garcia added that patrons of the disc golf facility at Steeplechase “want plenty of space,” which was one of the primary reasons staff decided against a Steeplechase location for the fitness court.

She also said the Marketplace location was preferred because “there’s nothing else out there right now. We’ll be bringing something new to this area.” Another plus, she said, was the abundance of trees at the Marketplace location, which would provide shade for the fitness court.