Sahuarita officials want to know what residents think about a new park to be built in the northern portion of the town and others that will be built in the future.
About 11 people showed up at an open house Tuesday to take a look at the proposed design of North Park, which would be built just north of Rancho Sahuarita, near the town's wastewater-treatment facility.
During the meeting, town officials unveiled the design and asked those in attendance what they thought about it.
Residents can comment on the design using an online form that will be posted this week on the town's Web site, www.ci.sahuarita.az.us.
Sahuarita officials hope to begin work on the 10-acre, $2 million park this year and complete it in mid-2008.
Next month, Sahuarita officials will begin asking residents about the bigger picture — what other parks and recreational facilities will be needed in the years ahead, said Debbie Summers, Parks and Recreation Department director.
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The public comments "will provide us with a sense of the amount of facilities and type of facilities that people would like to see," Summers said.
The comments will be integrated into the plan that will be sent to the Town Council for final approval by the end of June, she said.
A draft of the master plan put together by a consultant is scheduled to be presented in the Feb. 13 meeting of the parks and recreation commission.
Proposals beyond parks
Besides parks, the master plan also will include proposals for other recreational facilities such as hiking trails, or possibly multiuse trails for hiking, biking and horseback riding, and swimming pools.
Serena Price, a 10-year-old at Sopori Elementary School in Amado, said that's what she'd say is most needed in Sahuarita.
Her cousin, 10-year-old Aixa Granillo, said she'd enjoy a skate park.
"That's what I would like most," she said as she clutched a skateboard on a recent afternoon at Anamax Park last week.
Summers said that surveys of area residents show a great interest in both hiking trails and ball fields.
The town's ball fields are heavily utilized —so much so that some leagues must resort to renting fields from the Sahuarita school district. That costs more than some organizations can afford.
Summers said surveys also show a lot of interest in a pool and recreational complex.
But the town won't be able to afford such a facility in the near future. So Sahuarita officials hope to persuade the county to include a $14 million recreation center, which would feature at least one swimming pool, on a list of projects that the county will ask voters to consider in an upcoming election, possibly as early as next year.
The town has to carefully select which projects are most wanted by residents, Summers said, because the town doesn't have unlimited money.
Ken Ventura, parks project manager, said the efficiencies gained by locating North Park next to the town's wastewater-treatment facility will help hold down costs.
Because of a slowdown in housing construction in Sahuarita over the past six months, town officials may have to trim or delay some parks and rec projects and other capital improvements planned for the coming fiscal year, said Barbara Dolan, the town's communications manager.
Resident calls for restraint
Robert Leaver is glad to hear that.
Leaver, 81, said he believes Sahuarita officials should be careful about spending more money on parks and recreational facilities.
"I think they have enough already, and I think they're underutilized," he said.
"It seems to me that parks and recreation is taking up too much of the budget already," said Leaver, who moved to Sahuarita 7 1/2 years ago.
Donna Sloan thinks otherwise.
Sloan, a Green Valley resident, said the parks often are too crowded, especially during special events that draw many area residents.
"This park is adequate most of the time," she said of Anamax Park, where she meets friends from around the area every other week.
"But it just isn't big enough for everybody during big events like the Easter egg hunt and Fiesta Sahuarita," she said.
Hector McCormick who moved to Sahuarita in October, agrees.
"I'd like to see more parks — clean well-kept parks, like this," he said on a recent afternoon at Anamax, where he was shooting hoops while his two kids, Neylan, 8, and Medley, 3, were playing.
Sloan comes to Sahuarita with her 5-year-old daughter, Natalia, because Green Valley doesn't have any parks.
Summers said that many people from Green Valley and elsewhere come to Sahuarita to enjoy its parks.
The new dog-exercise park built at Anamax seems to be especially popular, she said.
Cyber-comments
• Residents can comment on the design using an online form that will be posted this week on the town's Web site, www. ci.sahuarita.az.us.
• Sahuarita officials hope to begin work on the 10-acre, $2 million park this year and complete it in mid-2008.
