Mt. Pleasant City will be hosting a public outreach meeting for the propose of discussing how to use grant monies for the Mt. Pleasant Community Park. This will take place at 6 p.m. Thursday in the Mt. Pleasant City Hall.

The city has secured a grant for $288,000 that can be used for retrofitting certain parks of the park. The city will need to match that amount of money with either cash or in-kind donations form citizens of the community.

Community Park will have a railroad theme to tie in with the current cars and depot located on the west side of the park.

This project will take place on an existing recreational facility. This project and its improvements will allow the city to continue to offer the public short and long-range recreational benefits and opportunities historically offered. It will also enable the city to enhance and expand on the recreational opportunities.

Throughout the course of many years, the park improvements have become deteriorated, less functional and “run down.” The restrooms are out of date, out of compliance with ADA rules and are undersized for the demand.

The park is seeing more use resulting from growth and improvements are necessary to accommodate more users. All of this has compelled the community leaders to prioritize these improvements and do what they can to accomplish them.

Funding is always difficult in rural communities with tight budgets and little tax base such as Mt. Pleasant, especially when there are many other needs. This usually results in park and recreation improvements taking a lower priority when competing with other infrastructure needs.

The public has been outspoken about improving the park and discussions regarding this have taken place during public meetings. A committee has been formed as a steering group for the community leaders and includes members from the general public.

The park with the trail encompassing it will also serve as the trailhead for the trail that will connect to Spring City.

The key people to recognize for this project are Justin Atkinson, Heidi Kelso and Molly Brotherson. They are the community development committee members representing the Mt. Pleasant Main Street Program.

Project under the auspices of the Mt. Pleasant City Community Development and Renewal Agency and Mt. Pleasant Main Street Program.

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