What does the public want done to improve Liberty Park in Mansfield?

MANSFIELD — Stephanie Zader is not promising big, sweeping improvements to Liberty Park on the city’s northeast side.

There is not a lot of money to spend and the current city administration only has about four months left in office.

But the Mansfield City Council At-large member wants to hear public input on how the 86-year-old city park can be improved.

Zader, working with Parks & Recreation Supt. Mark Abrams, has arranged a public meeting at the Grace Street park for Aug. 14 from 7 to 8 p.m.

“There is a group that is pretty passionate about Liberty Park and they want to see progress made there,” Zader said Thursday. “I have talked about the city’s parks for years and I started to look into it.”

The deteriorating Liberty Park pavilion was demolished in July. And the aging pool at the park, the last public pool in the city, was closed for good in August 2021.

Zader acknowledged there is not money in the city’s current budget for big improvements. The only revenue flowing into the parks system is about $850,000 annually through the PRIDE tax.

“I want to look at low-cost, high-impact things we can do to make the park better,” Zader said. “I am not promising big projects. I want to use what is there and I want the public to weigh in on what they would like to see done.”

“I want this to be an opportunity for the public to be a part of the conversation. I think, at times, we as a city do things without public feedback,” she said.

Public input is fitting given the park’s roots.

Liberty Park was built in 1937 when residents in the Grace Street area decided they wanted a city park that would allow their children to play close to home. They took it upon themselves to raise the money it took to buy 24 acres with a small creek.

According to local historian Timothy McKee:

“It took five years to raise the money during the Great Depression, with bake sales, fundraising picnics, dances, minstrel shows, and walking door-to-door collecting nickels and dimes. A government project — the WPA — took care of building the pool and the roadways, and then neighbors put together the pavilion.

“On an overcast day in 1937, a grand ceremony was staged when the park was presented to the City of Mansfield.”

Zader said the public is invited to meet at the pool/bathhouse area and begin an hour-long walking/talking tour of the park.

“We want to see what people want and what’s (financially) possible,” she said. “We are not going to do anything that costs a significant amount of money or make huge changes right now.”

One possibility could be to use the now-closed pool as part of a skateboard park and creating “a nice place for families to hang out,” Zader said, adding there are also swings at the playground that need to be replaced.

Another possibility is to begin work to have the large pond at the park dredged, she said.

“My goal for that meeting is to respect everyone’s time. We are not going to take all night. It’s just a chance for the public to talk to us and let us know what they would like to see happen.”

Abrams said the meeting would also be a good opportunity to again explain the city’s “master plan” for the parks, which City Council approved in 2020.

“The basis of this meeting has developed from Facebook comments that the city has forgotten Liberty Park,” he said. “Part of what we will discuss is what the master plan calls for in Liberty Park, how the city budget works and how we are doing what we can.”

Abrams said his department only has about $80,000 left each year from its PRIDE tax revenue for capital improvement projects. Most of that in 2023 has gone toward the “Sterkel Park for All” project.

Since the parks department was re-started in 2014 after the city emerged from fiscal emergency, it has not allocated any of its general fund revenue for parks.

“We can start looking forward to 2024,” Abrams said. “Our budget meetings will begin this fall and maybe we can increase our budget a little bit.”