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Glendale funds $1.5 million for park renovations

The Fremont Park tennis courts and lights on a sunny day in Glendale.
(Raul Roa / Staff Photographer)
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About $1.5 million was appropriated for projects at two of the city’s oldest parks this week by the City Council.

The council approved spending about $1.2 million on a variety of improvements to Palmer Park, including new barbeques, playgrounds, basketball courts and bike racks, as well as about $298,000 to revamp tennis courts at Fremont Park.

“I think it looks real good,” Councilman Frank Quintero said regarding the proposed design elements of Palmer Park. “Certainly, this park, just like Maple Park, is used constantly at different parts of the day.”

Other council members concurred.

“I think it’s a vast improvement,” Councilman Zareh Sinanyan said, referring to the Palmer Park upgrades.

After multiple public meetings regarding changes at the 2.8-acre Palmer Park in southeast Glendale, officials decided to do an extensive revamp of the site.

Officials, at first, applied for a state grant for the improvements, but that was denied because Glendale officials were not creating a new park, only fixing up an old one, according to a city report.

The money for the park improvements will instead come from impact fees paid by developers of new apartment complexes springing up in downtown.

Other planned changes include a new toddler play area, wading pool and outdoor fitness equipment. Construction is expected to be complete by October 2015.

The 7.9-acre Fremont Park nestled between the Glenwood and Vineyard neighborhoods is also one of Glendale’s oldest parks and has many heavily-used features, such as its eight tennis courts, according to the city report.

Four out of the existing 20 lights at the tennis courts are beyond repair and are set to be removed for safety reasons. Two of the eight courts will be unusable after sunset until the lights are replaced.

Due to heavy usage, the courts must be resurfaced, according to the city report. The last time they were resurfaced was in 2003. The money for the lighting-and-resurfacing project will come from a recreation enterprise fund, the report states.

The tennis court project should be completed by this fall.
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Follow Brittany Levine on Google+ and on Twitter: @brittanylevine.

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