ERIN MCDANIEL
City of Newton
NEWTON, Kan. — At Tuesday night’s meeting, the City Commission received the final proposed layout of improvements at Themian Park and an update on fundraising efforts.
The Themian Park Committee put together by the City, USD 373 Board of Education, and Newton Recreation Commission met Oct. 2 and approved the layout, which includes four pickleball courts, two basketball courts, two baseball fields with backstops, a soccer field with artificial turf, a park shelter, and restrooms. The plan would retain the existing swing sets and the seating recently installed by local Girl Scouts. The estimated total cost is about $1.76 million.
Themian Park, one of the City’s oldest parks, is owned by the City and leased to the school district for student use. The Rec Commission hosts some youth sports activities in the park and provides some maintenance work. The Railer Foundation volunteer group is leading the proposed improvement plan and raising private funds to support it.
The plan is for financing of the project to run through the Public Building Commission, a partnership of the City, School District, and Rec Commission that supports maintenance and improvements at Fischer Field and other athletic facilities in Newton.
The next steps will be to update the interlocal PBC agreement for each partner to consider and to begin fundraising in earnest. The project will be built in phases, beginning with the basketball and pickleball courts in the spring.
The Rec Commission has committed $100,000 of its funds toward pickleball courts. The City may be asked to donate in-kind services for some of the improvements such as the restroom building pad or sewer extension. These issues will be ironed out in the agreement that will come back to the City Commission for approval, hopefully before the end of the year.
Donations for the park project can be made online through the Central Kansas Community Foundation or mailed to:
Themian Park Fund
CKCF
400 S. Main, Ste. 100
Newton KS 67114