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Port Arthur community discusses revitalizing Lakeview Park

Lakeview Park, located near Groves, used to be a place a popular spot for kids and families to enjoy the summer. Yet, maintenance costs have forced it to close down.

PORT ARTHUR, Texas — The city of Port Arthur is looking to rebuild a neighborhood park that has been dormant for two years.

The public gathered Thursday night to discuss possible ideas on how to bring it back to life.

Lakeview Park, located near Groves, used to be a place a popular spot for kids and families to enjoy the summer.

Yet, maintenance costs have forced it to close down the last two years. 

Chandra Alpough is the director of Port Arthur's Parks and Recreation and tells 12News that the park/pool has experienced many issues.

"It has several major leaks that causes a lot of problems for staff to be able to continue to fix it or hire contractors to come out and fix it," said Alpough. "The main infrastructure as well, the pool is over 50 years old and still has some of the same piping when it was originally installed."

On Thursday, city officials and community members gathered inside the Amos J. Evans Multipurpose Center in Port Arthur to discuss ideas for a new park.  

"I'm definitely excited for what's to come, it's a great initiative that should've been started many years ago," said Armando Ruiz. "Unfortunately, it didn't happen but I'm very happy that it's following through now."

Port Arthur's Parks and Recreation is partnering with Sigma Engineers, from Beaumont, to build a new area for the community to enjoy.  

"We're looking at proposing a soccer field, a beach sand volleyball area as well as playscape system and water features," said Alpough. "We didn't want to take away a water element without putting some water features there."

Their plan is to remove the pool completely, which many people in attendance didn't seem to mind. 

Throughout the night, concerns did pop up about safety and cost.

"If we can partner up with a local business to sponsor this so that it doesn't cost the city, that would be great," Ruiz said. "My main concern is how much is it going to cost the city?"   

The cost of this project has not yet been determined, but fences and lights are included in the proposed project.

"We're basically trying to bring back play to outside," said Alpough. "Recently, it seems like technology has taken over everything and so what we're trying to do is get the community to come out and utilize the various parts that we have."

She says Parks and Recreation will take the public input gathered and create a plan to give city council. 

If approved, construction could begin in the next two to three months. 

"Taking into consideration what the community wants," said Ruiz. "Seeing the demographics in the area, they definitely came out with a great plan tonight."

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