Anita Reyes Memorial Park will be seeing some improvements after the San Marcos City Council approved a contract with Harper and Associates. The $143,500 contract is funded largely with Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) dollars ($135,500), with the city’s parks department kicking in $8,000 of capital maintenance funding.
Anita Reyes Park is one of a handful of parks located east of the interstate. The 0.4-acre park located at the corner of Broadway and Lockwood, adjacent to the county health clinic, will receive a new playground with shade structures, 375 feet of 4-foot sidewalks and new painting on an existing wrought-iron fence. The work includes making the park ADA accessible.
In June 2018, when the city was discussing how to use CDBG funds, Anita Reyes Park was a project that garnered some attention. Resident Roland Saucedo said that residents of his neighborhood, Sunset Acres, use the park but that there have been issues with accessibility.
“The entrances to the park are kind of not even entrances; they’re just kind of an opening in the gate,” he said, noting that elderly residents taking their grandchildren to the park have problems getting into the park.
“These elderly people can’t get into the park, because it’s not safe, especially if you’re using a cane or like me with a walker,” he said. “It’s not fun to navigate.”
Based on the diagrams in the council’s agenda, the new playground at Anita Reyes Park will include two different slides, a balance beam, a wall with a playwheel and other equipment. There will be shade canopies above the main playground structure.
