City council discusses North Ward park

The Clarendon City Council discussed the status and possible development of the North Ward park during its February 12 meeting.

The park at the intersection of Jefferson and Rosenfield is not owned by the city but features playground equipment that was installed by volunteer efforts several years ago. Other volunteer efforts have been staged through the years to clean and improve the lcation.

Alderman Brittney Sanne circulated a petition recently, which showed citizen support for making the location an official city park, and she began asking taxing entities to give up their claim to the property to let the city take it over. The county and school did so, and the topic of the tax property was on the February 12 city agenda.

At the meeting, Alderman Ashlee Estlack raised concerns that the park question had gotten so far along without the council first discussing the matter as to whether aldermen wanted to pursue a new park project.

“You can discuss it tonight,” Sanne said.

Estlack said she felt like the city had not been able to properly take care of Prospect Park at Sixth and Kearney, noting the vandalism the park has suffered in the last year and the lack of adequate lighting despite the council asking that it be addressed.

Alderman Tom Thompson agreed with Estlack that the city needed to take care of the existing park before taking on a new project.

Both Thompson and Estlack agreed they were not opposed to developing the North Ward property and voted with Sanne to approve the tax deed to acquire the property, but they said the city needs to develop a comprehensive parks plan before going any further with the project.

The city council will again discuss park improvements at its next regular meeting on Thursday, March 12.