Madison Parks Director has big plans for future
MADISON — New changes are coming to all city parks soon such as LED lights on the Strawberry Patch walking trail and upgraded playground equipment at Liberty Village.
Parks and Recreation Director Cole Smith said he is planning to work with Mayor Mary Hawkins-Butler and aldermen to expand Madison’s park system and improve the quality.
“We feel these changes and improvements will impact our citizens in a positive way by giving them opportunities to enjoy our great facilities, from walking and exercising, to more play choices for our younger generation,” Smith said. “We knew it was time for us to start evaluating where we are with our parks and looking to the future.”
Smith was hired on as Parks and Recreation Director in 2022, and since joining the city, he has spent a lot of time working with city officials evaluating the current park system and working towards immediate improvements while putting an emphasis on where to go in the future.
Smith spoke at the Madison Organization of Neighborhood Associations (MONA) quarterly membership meeting. MONA is a non-profit organization to serve as a liaison between the city and neighborhood associations for information and assistance. He laid out his plans on ways the city can improve the parks on April 11.
“We want to make sure we are expanding into the areas of greatest need first,” Smith said.
Smith said a big change coming is to Liberty Park, where the dugouts, press boxes, and concession stands at fields 1-5 will be updated, along with the parking lot being repaved.
“Improvements will also come in the form of additional equipment being added to the Liberty Village playground, along with improving the safety surfacing for the current play structure,” he said. “Once this has been completed, the city is looking to add a splash pad, which will be located between Liberty Village and the volleyball courts.”
Smith added that Simmons Arboretum has been getting updates over the past year such as the walking trails being re-established and bridges being cleaned, and that the city plans to improve landscaping at the front entrance along with signing leading to the arboretum.
Strawberry Patch Park is also receiving an upgrade, with the addition of parking lot lights, and LED lights being added to walking trails.
Funding for the park improvements will range from a mixture of general funds to bonds and grants. Smith said the city received a 50/50 matching grant for the playground additions at Liberty Village for $225,000 from the Land Water Conservation Funds distributed by Mississippi Wildlife Fisheries and Parks.
“We have also applied for the Sportsman Conservation Fund grant program, which is a new program administered by the Department of Finance for outdoor recreation,” Smith said. “That will be a 75 percent match towards repaving the walking trail at Liberty Park.”
“The future of our parks is very important to us and we are going to make sure the improvements we make will be those that benefit our greatest needs for our citizens,” he said.