After a presentation about the possibility of adding outdoor exercise spaces to the city’s parks department, city aldermen decided to table the matter until they could tour some similar spaces to see how such an addition might fit into the city’s parks collection.
Parks and Recreation Director Penny Renfroe said she brought the matter before the council so that they could know what might become available for the city in the future. She stressed that she was not asking for money to fund such an endeavor at the moment. She only wanted feedback from the council on whether or not the city would be interested in such a program.
Renfroe said funding for the proposed parks could come, in part, from grants from a public/private partnership with National Fitness Campaign to fund the outdoor exercise facility. The project would help the city answer the call to improve the amenities offered by the city’s parks department.
“There are four optional components that we can look at. There’s the fitness court, which is a 38 by 38-foot footprint. It is designed to provide recreational fitness for a full body workout,” Renfroe said.
The space is designed so that in about seven minutes one can use their own body weight and the exercise stations provided to complete a workout.
“It’s all very functional fitness,” she said, explaining that exercises would include core, squats, lunge, push, pull, agility and bend.
There is also an option to have a large outdoor space (also 38 by 38-foot footprint) that would allow for organized exercise classes like yoga or Zumba.
She said the project could also come with a designated spot for art in the form of outside art created right on the facility.
“There’s so many different options. You can use a local artist, or you can choose from a variety of different things so each community can pave their own way, so to speak,” she said.
The last component would be a shade so that the space is useable in the hot Texas summer.
Once all of the structures are in place, Renfroe said people can use an app on their phone to see which types of exercises could be done at each station. The app will show ways that those exercises could be modified depending upon the fitness goals and abilities of the person using the facility.
The courts would not require any type of power, so they won’t require utilities. They also won’t require plumbing of any kind.
“It’s completely low maintenance,” she said.
But it will cost some money. Renfroe said the program has already set aside around $1 million for such projects for 2026 and looks like it might have around the same amount for 2027.
She said the folks with the National Fitness Campaign simply want some indication of whether or not the city is interested in such a project. To show that interest, Renfroe was asking the council to pledge $60,000 to the project.
”This commitment doesn’t have to be dollars in hand, but it’s a threshold amount that is identified and pledged toward this project,” she said.
The total cost of the project could be between $160,000 and $270,000 depending on the options that the city chooses.
City Administrator Phil Harris said Blue Cross is offering the city up to $60,000 for the project. Renfroe said there are options for other grants and partnerships to help the city pay for the parks, should they decide they want to go forward.
When asked if there is such a park in the area that the council could see already in use, Renfroe said there is a new one in Decatur.
Harris said some of the city’s contribution toward the $160,000 to $270,000 could be in-kind work like pouring the concrete for the project.
Mayor Jeff Butts asked Renfroe about the time period she had in mind for relaying the city’s interest in the project and she said she has a meeting this week and she would like to have an answer for that meeting.
Although several people expressed an interest in the project, the council decided to table the matter until they could look at a project that is already in place.
