Thursday, June 12, 2008
The Parent Information Network compiled the following information about the renovation of area at Mericourt Park on Madison Street in front of Moore Magnet School:
The ball fields behind Barksdale Elementary and in Mericourt Park are actually on land owned by the school system. There is a usage agreement lease between the city and the school system for their use. Volunteers with the Clarksville National Little League reported that following a recent storm (one and one-half inches of rain) there was about 3 million gallons of water sitting on the field in Mericourt Park. Following such a rain, many man-hours are spent to remove debris and to recondition the field back into playing condition. The engineers discovered that this area is not in compliance with current code for storm water runoff/drainage. The proposed improvements will bring this area into compliance and greatly improve the drainage. The Clarksville National Little League, in conjunction with the City Parks and Recreation Department, the City Engineer and the City Mayor's Office developed and reviewed the plan which was okayed by the School System's facilities and operations departments.
On this portion of Mericourt Park there was one field and a small warm up field. The improvement plan has two complete fields (in addition to the other field also in Mericourt Park).
The new field design provides better safety for the children playing softball as well as the vehicular traffic on Pageant Lane. (Better positioning of the fields and safety fences will prevent children and/or adults from chasing foul balls across the street.)
The improvements help make the fields more accessible by being compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act.
The improvements reduce the required maintenance and additional work (man-hours saved) required following periods of heavy rain.
The improvement plan helps to prepare an area for an additional playground for Moore Magnet School. (The PTO is raising the funds for the equipment. This ground preparation will save the school many dollars in the total cost of the playground.)
The improvement plan provides an excellent outdoor classroom for the students at Moore Magnet.
The improvement plan calls for the planting of new trees and other work in the area beautification.
One will notice that the new ball fields will have a Press Box with concessions and restrooms (similar to the fields at Barksdale) located between/behind the home plate of the two fields.
There will now be an eight foot wide handicap accessible sidewalk between the two fields. This leads to stairs and a ramp that joins the existing pavilion, restrooms, and concessions. The park previously had not been ADA accessible. The plan also indicates that the fields will be further off Pageant Lane than the existing field.
Although new landscaping is not specifically shown on this plan, we have been assured (as discussed at the Board meeting) the park will be a place of beauty. Click here to see the plan.
