McClung Park facelift: check.
An all new look for Community Park: on the way.
That was the shorthand report from Jefferson City Parks, Recreation and Forestry Department officials when it was their turn to speak at the Capital Area Metropolitan Organization (CAMPO) Technical Committee meeting last week at Jefferson City Hall.
J.J. Gates, Parks Department resources and forestry division director, told the committee the department had completed its extensive renovation at McClung Park and was nearing a move to the newer neighborhood Community Park, for which a Federal Highway Administration Recreational Trail Grant has been awarded.
The ribbon-cutting ceremony at McClung last Wednesday lured city officials, including Mayor Carrie Tergin and members of the City Council and Parks Commission, for rides on the new swings and on the other recreation apparatus designed for smaller bodies and much younger visitors.
McClung Park is named for D.C. McClung, the supervisor of the construction crew of Missouri prisoners who built it in 1915. It was first a state park. Jefferson City bought the 45-acre park from the Missouri State Penal Board in 1940.
Its outdoor pavilion can accommodate 285 people for barbecues and meetings, while the air-conditioned indoor pavilion can seat 200. It also offers 158 parking spaces. McClung originally offered the public rustic wooden playground gear.
McClung is listed in city guides at 950 McClung Park Drive, but the physical address is 1115 Chestnut St.
Community Park, where the Parks Department hopes to begin improvements this fall, will receive a new restroom facility, as well as new playground equipment, barbecue grills, and other equipment replacements and updates. The 3.5-acre park is at 725 Marshall St. The city's Greenway Trail runs through Community Park toward the Lincoln University campus.
The CAMPO Technical Committee voted unanimously to accept a proposed amendment to the 2017-21 Transportation Improvement Program (TIP) for Community Park. It's a TIP because it earned the federal transportation grant.
The amendment now goes to the CAMPO board of directors for consideration.
The next meeting of the Technical Committee, from which initial approval is required before projects from throughout the region may proceed, is set for 10 a.m. Dec. 1 in the Boone-Bancroft Room at City Hall.