Enterprise seeks grant money for forthcoming city park

Stock image, St. George News

ST. GEORGE — The community of Enterprise is coming together to make a new city park a reality through donations and a grant opportunity that anyone can help them acquire by voting.

Enterprise city officials break ground on the new Enterprise Community Park, Enterprise, Utah, March 31, 2017 | Photo courtesy of Enterprise City, St. George News

The Enterprise Community Park, which has already broke ground for construction in a plot of land near the center of town, is an ambitious project that city officials say is a major need for the community. Planned features include a splash pad, soccer fields, tennis courts, a covered sports court, a playground and a community center.

As the project moves along, funding for the estimated $3 million needed to complete it is still outstanding, though community donations of money, labor, materials and equipment have contributed substantially to that goal.

The city’s latest effort includes a lobbying effort for a grant of up to $100,000 by USA Today known as the “Thriving Community Grant” in which anyone can vote for their favorite community endeavor. Readers can vote for the Enterprise Community Park at the grant website.

“We’re small but everybody’s really close,” City Councilwoman Darcy Holt said of Enterprise’s 1,800 residents, give or take.

Currently, residents rely heavily on church facilities or school property for community events.

Among the possible uses of the new park are weddings, scouting events, festivals and music concerts, Holt said.

“I joined the council because I wanted to do something with the park,” Holt said.

She initially queried the Five County Association of Governments for grant money but quickly learned that funding for parks ranks low in the association’s priorities.

An architect’s drawing of the forthcoming Enterprise Community Park. | Image courtesy of Enterprise City, St. George News | Click on image to enlarge.

Since then, funding the new park has become a community endeavor.

“The community supports it, the council supports it – we’re willing to do whatever we can to try to find the funds for it.”

Private monetary donations have come in sums as much as $200,000 by enthusiastic residents.

“We’ve had some humongous donations from the community,” Holt said.

Additional support has been pledged by Washington County School District, Holt said, adding that building the tennis courts is of major interest to the district.

Zions Bank contributed the entire $50,000 necessary to build the splash pad, and Komatsu Equipment Company has donated construction equipment.

Families are stepping forward and saying ‘This is important to us,’” Holt said.

Many residents have already donated what labor and money they can toward the project.

“That’s what’s most exciting to me,” Holt said, “we’re a little town but people are coming out of nowhere and saying ‘I’ll give you a hundred bucks’ or ‘I’m a carpenter and I can come up there and work on finishing the foundation or work on the cement.’”

City officials intend to see the park to its completion, even if it has to be done in phases while funding is pending.

“We’ll do whatever we have to do,” Holt said, “but it’d be nice to get it all done at once.”

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