Thursday, February 6, 2025

Springtown receives competitive grant for park renovations and amends business regulations

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SPRINGTOWN — On Thursday, Jan. 23, the city of Springtown received a $300,000 nonurban outdoor grant from the Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission. Springtown City Administrator David Miller announced the award at a regular city council meeting during his report.

“I am pleased to announce tonight that the final word came in this morning, after the public hearing in Austin. The city of Springtown, with the joint efforts between staff and public management, is the recipient of a $300,000 matching 1:1 grant,” Miller said. “This is a grant that we applied for to put the all-access playground in place. We have the matching funds already budgeted and we are going to be moving forward with that project.”

The nonurban outdoor recreation grants fund projects in municipalities with populations less than 500,000. The city of Springtown was one of 21 communities that received a nonurban outdoor grant. The grant will be used for renovations and development at Springtown Park. The new amenities will include an inclusive playground with pour-in-place surfacing and shade. It also includes a cornhole game area, tables for chess/checkers, trails, putting green, fitness equipment and interpretive signage.

“It's exciting news for us,” Miller said. “Kudos to the staff, kudos to public management for handling the grant application process. It's a new and exciting use for that will service every age category that will benefit our citizens.”

These grants are competitive and are allocated to local government entities on a 50/50 reimbursement match basis. Springtown Park is where the old Splash Pad used to be located.

Also, during the meeting, the city council approved amending chapter 4, business regulations, in regard to needing a permit to host a special event held for a commercial purpose that is open to the public.

The city of Springtown currently only requires a special event permit for public events on city-owned properties that involve alcohol sales. The proposed and approved amendment expands this requirement to include any public event not contained on the organizer's property.

The need for this change comes from concerns over unplanned growth of events, leading to issues like last-minute requests for city services, unauthorized street closures and disruptions to local businesses, particularly in the square. These problems arise when event organizers fail to provide adequate notice. Additionally, events held in close proximity to one another can result in resource conflicts, like overlapping vendor fairs. As of right now, the city does not anticipate the ordinance will call for a permit application fee.

City staff recommends this amendment to better manage public events, while excluding private events like weddings and birthday parties that are already regulated through the reservation process. The council approved the ordinance 5-0.