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The City of Houston is about to acquire a parcel of land in Alief to turn it into a park. As Houston Public Radio’s Laurie Johnson reports, park space in that part of town is hard to come by.
In a $5 million deal, the city is about to purchase 22 acres of land in the heart of Alief. Houston Parks Department Director Joe Turner says the Houston Parks Board, a non-profit organization, identified the site a while back as a potential park. It’s a chunk of land that used to be a 9-hole golf course.
“It actually has three or four water features in it. We know the cart paths are going to need some repair work, but we know they’d be wonderful walking trails. It’s a small clubhouse but we should be able to use it for some meeting space type facilities and it has a nice parking lot. Long term plans would be to be able to put a playground at it and possibly maybe even a sprayground. It’s just going to be a wonderful neighborhood park.”
The Parks Department will present the purchase proposal to Houston City Council next week. The city will put up $3 million toward the purchase. The remaining funds will come from the Houston Parks Board, including money to refurbish the buildings and turn the golf cart paths into walking trails.
“We’ve always appreciated park space, but I think we’re becoming more and more knowledgeable of how valuable it is to us just from a quality of life standpoint and also from an economic standpoint. I mean, it gives a good value for our citizens and for people looking to relocate here.”
The park site is on Dairy Ashford near Beechnut. The land used to be the Hackberry Golf Course. Laurie Johnson, Houston Public Radio News.
