Bastrop, Tx–At at June 15 meeting the Bastrop Economic Development Corp. board explored plans to save a score of large trees threatened by looming construction along Chestnut Street. The board also heard pleas from the city parks board for funds to help create the first “splash park” features in the city.
A key issue–where to find the money–was not resolved Monday, but the board vowed to study ways to fund both efforts.
A proposal to safeguard significant trees along Chestnut between Water and Jefferson Street was prompted by citizen concerns voiced during a public meeting about plans to make major street, utility and landscape improvements along the route beginning later this year, said landscape architect Sandra Chipley who is working with engineers on the plans.
A consulting arborist has recommended pruning the specimen trees (elm, ash, pecan, sycamore magnolia) then treating the roots with pest poison and fertilizer before construction work begins, she said. The cost could be $20,000 to $30,000.
“We don’t want to butcher the trees” during construction, said board member Pat Crawford. “We’re trying to spruce (the area) up.”
The total project cost is now estimated at just less than $1.6 million. “We don’t need to add to that (total),” said board member Gary Schiff.
Project engineer Gene Kruppa said he will solicit quotes for the work from qualified arborists and noted that recent bids for public works projects have been coming in for up to 20 percent less that formal cost estimates. That could leave money in the budget as planned for the added tree work, he suggested.
On the splash park topic the board heard from Parks Board President Judi Hoover and Ann Brown, a volunteer, who asked BEDC to pledge $50,000 toward creating one in Fisherman’s Park by sometime next year. Total cost could reach $150,000, said Hoover.
Brown said she also hopes to solicit grant assistance from Texas Parks and Wildlife and the Lower Colorado River Authority.
Schiff worried out loud about creating a water playground during a period of drought, when the city is urgently seeking new water sources, asking residents to conserve and studying requests from new industrial prospects which may have significant water demands.
One potential new industry, a maker of solar electric cells, may need up to 400,000 gallons a day for operations, said BEDC President Joe Newman. Presently the city has little excess water production capacity once norman demand tops a million gallons daily.
In any case Board President Gary Guiterrez said BEDC will budget funds to support the park addition as it makes a new spending plan for the fiscal 2009-10 year, but he told Hoover he won’t commit to a particular dollar amount yet.