The Springfield-Greene County Park Board, in partnership with the City of Springfield, celebrated new improvements to Tom Watkins Park with a progressive ribbon-cutting and Frisbee-tossing ceremony Thursday, June 14, following the Zone 1 Town Hall Meeting with Councilwoman Phyllis Ferguson.
Nearly $645,000 of park improvements have been implemented at Tom Watkins Park in the last four months, funded through a combination of the City of Springfield’s Community Development Block Grant, through the Housing and Urban Development (HUD) program; and the City’s Neighborhood Works program. Park improvements included:
- New restrooms, adjacent to the park’s pavilion.
- New 3,800-square foot interactive playground, including treehouse structure with slides and climbing features, a rotary swing, bench seating and shade structures.
- New 7/10-mile (3,604-foot) concrete walking path, looping around the park.
- New site lighting and electrical upgrades, including adding power capacity to the pavilion
- New 18-hole disc golf course, with new tee pads and goal baskets.
The HUD grant is also funding new playgrounds and other amenities at Cooper, Nichols and Meador parks. Neighborhood Works is funding numerous infrastructure improvements in parks.