By Meredith Canales
Staff Writer
 
One of Helotes’ long-planned projects came closer to fruition Nov. 20 in the form of a groundbreaking ceremony.

“We have been talking about this for many years,” said Mayor Tom Schoolcraft. “From the early ’90s we were tasked with what to do with this piece of land here (behind City Hall), and back in the mid-’90s we came up with the idea of the city park and the birding trail.”

After that idea, the mayor said he, as part of the Municipal Complex Grounds Improvement Committee, focused in on building a playground where the children of Helotes could play but also a space where grownups could walk and sit while their children enjoyed the equipment.

“I’m excited about the potential, and I think once we get started everyone will feel some of that excitement,” he said.

Though ground has now been broken, the road to the playground hasn’t been a smooth one, as evidenced by the more than decade it took to make it a reality.

“The previous administration had selected a site at the corner of Parrigan and FM 1560. That never made a lot of sense to me for many reasons,” said Schoolcraft. “First, it’s a high traffic area. It seemed like there was an element of danger. Also, there are no utilities down there if we wanted to do something, but the primary reason was that in nominal rain, the thing floods.”

Schoolcraft said that he thought it would be very difficult to maintain that particular piece of land if, after every rain, the city had to renew the park. After thinking about it, he decided to try to build the playground and park where he originally wanted it: behind City Hall.

“The Economic Development Corporation at the time (the park planning started) was instrumental in getting us designated as an official birding trail,” he said. “We started building the trail, but the council at that time decided that one day there might be a police and fire station back there, so they kind of shut us down.”

However, after all the hard work and dead ends, the city has finally begun work on its first official playground.

“We really didn’t get started until the last election because there were different committees, and then this committee was formed after the Parks Committee went away, so now we’re the Parks and Recreation Committee,” said committee member Bert Buys.

Buys said the committee works closely with the mayor in developing ideas for parks in Helotes, but ultimately the council approves all decisions.

“Our job is to help come up with ideas, to help strategize,” said committee chairman Scott Muenz.

Though the committee and mayor are relying largely on donations, both Buys and Muenz said, if it came down to it, there is a Parks and Recreation fund they can draw from to help out with the cost.

The mayor, however, said most of the initial materials have been donated by a local lumberyard, but he can’t release the name since it hasn’t been officially confirmed.

“We’re going to keep calling for volunteers. To make this a true community function and facility, it’s going to be more important to have volunteers from the community help us put it together,” said Schoolcraft.

According to Schoolcraft, digging should start this week for the swing set posts and climbing platform.