By Spencer Spilman
With almost three quarters of a million dollars in damage, the city of Kyle is asking questions as to how the city plans to pay for all of its recovery efforts.
But according to Kyle Parks and Recreation Director Kerry Urbanowicz, Kyle’s city parks should be back in commission sooner than originally expected.
The parks department took almost $220,000 worth of damage during the Oct. 30 storm event, which dropped upward of 16 inches of rain on Kyle. Urbanowicz said funding is one thing he was concerned about.
“We don’t have a quarter of a million dollars, and FEMA may reimburse us 70 percent, but that won’t be until a year from now,” he said.
Kyle’s damage estimates were presented to the Kyle City Council on Dec. 1. The city’s Parks Department suffered roughly $220,000 in damages during the storm event. But that paled in comparison to the city’s Public Works Department, which assessed nearly $500,000 in damages to infrastructure.
One of the hardest hit areas was Windy Hill Road, which had $300,000 in damages. The Public Works Department was unavailable for comment.
The Lake Kyle office, which had nearly $50,000 worth of damage, is beginning construction this week and plans to be back in the office by February at the latest.
Urbanowicz said his main focus is getting the parks and ball fields back in working condition as soon as possible. According to Urbanowicz, the reason is so kids can get back out and start playing again. The goal is to have all the parks and fields completely finished by March 1.
On Tuesday, the Kyle City Council voted on funding for the Gregg-Clarke Park renovation.
The measure also approved a new rebuild of the Gregg-Clarke Park, which is outdated, according to Urbanowicz.
“We are going to replace the existing playground piece and make it ADA compliant,” said Urbanowicz. “Look up Neos 360 from Playworld. It’s a playground for older kids, and when the public finds out about that thing, we are going to be the talk of Central Texas.”
Urbanowicz said he played with the 360 at a conference eight years ago and has wanted to install one ever since.
He said the older kids and adults don’t have any equipment to play with, and this playground set is something that is going to be fun for all ages, and will be the only one of its kind in all of Central Texas.
Some of the trails at Steeplechase Park were washed away and will need to be completely rebuilt. The park itself took over $79,000 worth of damage during the flood.
Urbanowicz said those would have to be put on the back burner for now while the main focus of finishing the playgrounds and ball fields take the first priority.
He said the trails will get an easy fix to keep them usable for the time being, with the projection that they will most likely be rebuilt next winter.
Urbanowicz said he was thankful for all the local support from the community. Local businesses have shown interest in donating to the cause and he said people from all over have offered to volunteer their time to get the projects finished even faster than the original plan.
Once the City approves the projects, the Parks and Recreation department will attempt to finish within six to eight weeks.
Other city departments also took in damage during the flood as well. The Kyle Police Department suffered over $21,000, which included over $8,000 in vehicle damage and roughly $9,000 in computer and server damage.
