FUTURE SITE OF SOCCER FIELDS • The Pink School Park will be undergoing a name change soon and will be known as the Town Square Park. The first phase of projects in the park funded by the PAR tax will entail constructing three different sized soccer fields. There will be some safety measures taken to keep soccer balls from hitting the 4th District Courthouse which can be seen in the background as well as other improvements in parking. As soon as the snow melts, work will get underway.
By Rebecca Dopp
Times-News Correspondent
John Bradley, Nephi Recreation director, came to county commission to give an update on the programs in the area and upcoming projects.
“I try to come once a year, but sometimes it’s once every two years, to give a report on how the Nephi Recreation department is doing,” he said.
Nephi Recreation receives a portion of its funding from Juab County to help run the programs. It provides programs for residents of all ages in Juab County, as well as outside the county, including youth sports, adult sports, swimming pool, enrichment classes, ballfield and gymnasium access and special events.
Bradley showed a rundown of participation numbers and from which cities participants are coming from.
In 2018, total youth and adult participation numbers were as follows: Nephi City had 1,582 participants; Mona City had 501; Levan Town had 211; Rocky Ridge had 35; Eureka had 0; Sanpete County, 72; Utah/SL County, 18; Millard County, 5; and Do Not Know (Special Events), 5,132. Most of the out-of-county participation is in the adult programs.
Bradley said that these numbers did not include regular daily use of the swimming pool, but it did include swimming lessons.
Total participation was 7,556.
Participation numbers have increased since 2017. The total number then was just under 6,000.
“We aren’t trying to grow significantly,” he said, “it just kind of happens as we offer new programs or people request different programs. i think part of that growth is coming because of new residents.”
Clinton Painter, commissioner, asked how the recreation department advertised. Bradley said they had their own Facebook page, a website, a monthly email newsletter, and advertised in the local paper. Word-of-mouth was also a great way that they promote the programs.
Painter said that he would get Bradley connected with Eureka City and get some more information into their newsletter.
Bradley said that they had been working with Mona City on getting more programs into that community. He said that the Mona City Council gave the recreation department a stipend, approximately $5,000, so that the youth there could have more to do in their community without having to commute to Nephi. The baseball and softball teams could practice at the park and basketball teams could practice at the elementary school. They also tried to make more after school programs available for the kids.
“We might be able to do something similar in Levan,” he said.
Bradley said the idea was to help participants in Mona feel like they were a part of the recreation program. They would still have to commute for some programs like soccer, tennis, swimming, etc.
He said Nephi Recreation had an event that coincides with 4-H called Summer in the Park. He said they could take that format and go to the parks in each of the communities.
Bradley said that their are 71 programs offered through Nephi Recreation, which does not include drop in at the swimming pool.
One of those programs is the adaptive sports program. He said they had 15 participants last year.
“Jodi Sipple is our lead there and she does a great job,” Bradley said.
The adaptive programs are not just for special needs kids. It could also include kids with delayed growth. Participants can be between the ages of 5-20. He said some kids start out in adaptive programs and then move on to the regular programs.
Bradley said that the Movies in the Park event in the summer is quite popular. He said they found out early on that it was expensive to hire a DJ to put on the event, so they went out and bought their own equipment.
“That’s something that we could go to [other communities] and do a special night for them,” he said.
Commissioner Byron Woodland said that he was appreciative of Bradley and commented on how much the recreation programs have grown over the years.
Bradley then introduced the PAR tax update and what the funds will be going towards.
Nephi City voters approved the Parks, Arts and Recreation sales tax in November by about 65%. The first of those funds won’t be available until this summer, though, so Nephi City agreed to approve an interfund loan to get the projects started. Nephi Recreation will pay back those funds once the sales tax starts coming in.
The first phase of the project will be the soccer fields behind the 4th District Court and ambulance/fire department.
“They are right behind us at what’s been known as Pink School Park, “ Bradley said. “We’re actually going to change the name of the park to Town Square Park. There will be a connection there with the old Pink School. There’s going to be a logo that shows the old building and then a lot of the traditional history and tie it into what we call Town Square.”
He said there were a lot of people who were not familiar with the name Pink School. He said he wants to have some kiosks that give some history and information about the connection.
Richard Hansen, commissioner, said he remembered attending the Pink School and trying to dodge the icicles that fell off the roof.
There will be two larger soccer fields and one smaller field that will help facilitate those programs. The move will help develop the baseball and softball programs.
There are also plans for a playground that may incorporate some adaptive/special needs as well. There will be fencing on 200 North that will help keep kids in the park. They are looking into ways to safeguard the windows of the 4th District Court which borders the soccer field. There will be striped street parking on 200 North and 200 East. They are putting in a wrought iron fence to separate the field and the ambulance building and to help keep people from parking over there. There are plans for a future picnic pavilion in the southeast corner. He said they would only need to remove a few trees to make room for the fields and that the other trees would remain.
Bradley said that there is also potential for the old National Guard Armory across the street by the Rose Garden. It could be used for classrooms, family parties and other events. It currently houses the city gas department and as soon as the city’s public works building is finished, they will move into it and vacate the Armory.
“It’s exciting,” he said. “The PAR tax was really a shot in the arm to move forward on the facility side.”
He said he was looking at also applying for grants to help with the costs, and several local businesses had said they would donate money towards the projects.
He said that as soon as the snow melts, they will begin working on the first phase of the project. A ribbon cutting ceremony will be set for this spring.
