A planned park to honor local heroes and commemorate the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks will likely be built in Cleburne’s Winston Patrick McGregor Park.

Cleburne Fire Chief Clint Ishmael, during Tuesday’s Cleburne City Council workshop, requested and received conditional council agreement to move forward on the project.

Councilman John Warren first wants city staff to check the language of the deed through which the McGregor Park land was gifted to the city to ensure that the honor park, as planned, is allowable under the conditions set forth.

McGregor, located at the intersection of West Henderson Street and North Colonial Drive, opened in 2009.

M. Frank Scott bequeathed the land, a house on the property and $450,000 to Cleburne with stipulations that the area be used as a park and named after his dogs.

City leaders describe the park as ever evolving. Plans call for adding additional elements to the park in stages through the coming years.

City Manager Rick Holden also asked Development Services Director Jody Butler to present the idea to members of the Cleburne Parks and Recreation Advisory Board to update them and get their input on the project.

Ishmael said he also intends to check and make sure the honor park plans do not otherwise interfere with any future planned projects at McGregor.



A change of plans

Council members last year asked Ishmael to research and present a list of alternate locations for the honor park after the initial site proved impracticable.

The city’s purchase of a parcel of land several years ago in the north side of Cleburne off Texas 174 inspired the idea of an honor park among Cleburne firefighters. The city purchased the land with an eye toward building a fourth fire station. The city still owns the land and still plans to build a new station, as soon as they locate funding to do so, which will probably be several years away.

Shortly after the city purchased the land, Ishmael said he and other firefighters realized the parcel is large enough to hold both a fire station and a small park. Initial plans called for a park honoring Cleburne firefighters past and present with a memorial to the three Cleburne firefighters and one Cleburne police chief who died in the line of duty.

Acquisition by Cleburne of an I-beam salvaged from the rubble of one of the World Trade Center towers in 2010 expanded the scope of the park. Several Cleburne firefighters drove to New York that year to bring the beam back to Cleburne. Firefighters have displayed the beam at various events about town since. Plans call for integrating the beam into a permanent sculpture for display in the honor park.

The park’s scope later expanded once more to include county law enforcement officer, military personnel and veterans.

Plans initially called for placing the park in the rear of the property off Texas 174 with the new fire station to front the property. City leaders suggested flipping that around to make the park more visible to passing traffic. That created a new set of problems. Several council members voiced concern with having a fire department behind the park given the possible logistical problems of fire engines driving past the park area, not to mention trying to exit when other traffic is entering the park area. Attempts to reconfigure the land plan to include a separate  entry and exit access for fire department vehicles proved unworkable, which led city leaders to explore other locations.



Cost

Donations, both cash and in-kind, will fund construction of the honor park, Ishmael said.

“It’s important for people to know, especially in this economy, that no city tax dollars will be used to build the park,” Ishmael said.

The only taxpayer cost will be in maintenance once the park is up and running.

Initial construction estimates totaled about $200,000, of which about $80,000 has been collected so far, Ishmael said. The total is actually a bit higher given several in-kind donations of materials and labor, he said.

With the council’s blessing to move ahead on the project, provided the remaining questions of placing it in McGregor Park are resolved, the next step is to draw up plans, Ishmael said.

BRW Architects and Jaster-Quintanilla Engineering have agreed to assist with planning and architectural drawings free of charge, Ishmael said. BRW last year drew up preliminary plans and designs when the plan was still to locate the park on the north side of town.

Once that is done, which, after receiving clearance to use the McGregor Park location, should take about 60 days, Ishmael will present the plans to the council for additional input and approval.

“As all stages of [building the park] go along we’ll be visiting with council for their guidance,” Ishmael said. “They, of course, have to approve everything.”

Councilwoman Gayle White called the idea to place the park within McGregor inspired during Tuesday’s workshop.

“I think it’s going to be a lot more visible over there where a lot more people will be able to see it,” White said.

Ishmael agreed.

“This was never meant to be a park like Hulen Park where you have baseball and playgrounds,” Ishmael said. “This is meant to be a place of honor and quiet reflection and McGregor Park, being a botanical area, I think [the honor park] would fit nicely in there.”

Placing the honor park inside McGregor also kills two birds with one stone in regards to paying for maintenance of the honor park, Ishmael said.

“You already have the parks department doing maintenance at McGregor,” Ishmael said. “And that saves money on building the honor park. A lot of the infrastructure, electricity and all, is already in place at McGregor.”

Much work remains to be done and more donations are needed. But, after two years of working on the project, Ishmael said the park is moving closer to reality.

“People have been excited about it and I think once we get the plans finished and everybody sees the more exactly what we’re hoping to do more will get involved,” Ishmael said. “It’s a work in progress and input has been good, which is good for the community, to see how the project’s changed and expanded in scope since the beginning.”