June 3—Three-year-old Tru Taylor climbed a tree trunk Thursday at the new Chestnut Grove Elementary School park, one of three neighborhood parks the city has built in the past year.
Tru wasn’t sure for a few minutes if he was ready to go from crouching to full standing. After assurances from his grandmother, Donna Taylor, Tru stood tall and jumped.
Tru and his new friends, Averie and Nash Brooks, spent more than an hour climbing, jumping and swinging at the new park on Battlement Road Southeast on a sunny, clear morning Thursday.
“It’s going to be hard to get him to leave when it’s time to go,” said Donna Taylor, and true to her word, Tru didn’t want to leave when she suggested they go home for a drink. .
The two families live in this Oak Lea subdivision in southwest Decatur.
“The park is a great addition to the neighborhood,” said Sarah Brooks, mother of Averie, 5, and Nash, 2. “It’s nice that we can walk here from home.”
Donna Taylor said she really likes the park and her only problem is “it’s a little closer to the road, like I would like,” especially after having to stop Tru from going into the street earlier this week. She added that she would like to see the city install a fence between the park and Vicksburg Drive Southwest.
Sarah Brooks said she would like to see two additions, benches and “more play equipment for children under the age of four.” Council President Jacob Ladner said the park benches are on order and the city is waiting for them to be delivered.
Ladner led the effort to build Chestnut Grove Park in his District 5. According to Chief Financial Officer Kyle Demeester, state Rep. Terri Collins, R-Decatur, received $180,000 from the Tennessee Valley Authority in lieu of taxpayer money and gave the money to the Community Foundation for a Greater Decatur to pass on to the city. The city added $475,000 to complete the project, he said.
Nearly half of the cost went to landscaping with more than 400 plants and trees, and Ladner said this improves the appearance of the area. The new park also has a new parking lot.
“It was basically a dirt field, so it’s a huge improvement,” Ladner said.
Although the neighborhood needed a place for children to play, Ladner said he wanted the park to be a little different. The playground also includes some bricks that Chestnut Grove teachers can use to turn it into an outdoor classroom.
“The purpose of that wasn’t just to swing and slide, it’s more to let children use their imagination, climb and swing,”
The park uses only part of the 10-acre field at the school’s entrance, so, Ladner said, he would like to expand the park in the future.
Ladner said both District 5 elementary schools, Chestnut Grove and Julian Harris, now have parks. With recent improvements to the playground, walking trail and tennis court, Julian Harris Park is much larger and more established.
Now he said he would welcome suggestions for locations and options for more neighborhood parks in the city, especially in District 3.
“Residents can really help give us a place that makes sense for some kind of playground or park,” Ladner said. “The more parks we can have, the better it is.”
Councilman Carlton McMasters pushed for new neighborhood parks in District 3. Demeester said the city received three $50,000 grants from the state for these parks.
The city added $155,000 to the grant fund last fall to build a park next to Fire Station No. 8 on Indian Hills Road in Southeast Decatatur. Frances Nungester Elementary School, located on Tammie Street Southwest, received $210,000 this spring, plus one of $50,000 grants for a park.
The city is also working on plans for another District 3 park at Linett Street Southwest and near Central Avenue. The city allocated $135,000 for the grant for this park.
Mayor Tab Bowling said Parks & Recreation operations manager Aaron Lang is working with the engineering firm Pugh Wright McAnally Inc. to confirming property boundaries and planning for this park.
— bayne.hughes@decaturdaily.com or 256-340-2432
