A look ahead at 2017: Park improvement projects

One of the major projects funded by the city of Homewood’s recent $110 million bond could see progress this year.

Parks and Recreation Director Berkley Squires said he hopes to begin improvements at West Homewood and Patriot parks later this year. The plan includes removing West Homewood Park’s pool and reconfiguring its existing playing fields to make more room for baseball, softball and multipurpose fields, as well as tennis courts, batting buildings and a permanent maintenance department facility. Two tennis courts and an aquatic center, potentially including a lap pool and splash pad, would be installed at Patriot Park.

If the school system pursues a proposal to relocated Homewood High School to city-owned land adjacent to West Homewood Park, Berkley said the ballfield layout will leave room for the high school’s athletic needs. He said there would likely be some overlap in fields used for youth and high school teams.

Squires emphasized construction timelines are still tentative, but he would like to begin on the West Homewood fields in summer and the Patriot Park pool in late winter. 

Squires has said previously he believes the pool project would take about 10 months. The West Homewood fields would be completed over about two years, timed so construction does not interfere with various Homewood teams’ seasons.

Extra traffic is a consideration on both of these projects, particularly at West Homewood where youth league teams may eventually compete with school traffic if Homewood City Schools decides to relocate Homewood High School to that property. The Patriot Park aquatic center will include additional parking around the senior center, and Squires said in a previous interview he has asked project designers to look at additional entry points on the West Homewood Park property.

The two projects are expected to cost about $30-35 million, funded by the city bond that also will pay for expansion projects at the schools, a new public safety building for the Homewood Police Department and, if money is leftover, likely more street paving work. 

The city plans to repay its bond with the introduction of a 1-cent sales tax increase that was passed in late 2016.