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Plan in Place to Improve Fulton Parks

Downtown Fulton
KBIA

The city of Fulton is asking its residents what kind of changes they would like to see in their local parks. City officials recently launched a ten-year master plan to improve its facilities, and they want people’s opinions on what those improvements should entail. Mayor LeRoy Benton says that the city is focused on expansion.

“Most of what we’re looking for would be future expansion,” Benton said. “Our current facilities are in pretty good shape, and we feel pretty good about where they are. Where we can expand is things that I think we need to hear from the community on, and of course that’s one of the reasons why we’re going through this.”

City officials posted a ten-question survey on the city’s website as part of an effort to gage what kind of renovations community members would like to see. Such questions include: “which parks and recreation facility improvements or development projects would you like to see the city undertake in the next 10 years?” Over three hundred people completed the survey at Tuesday’s regularly-scheduled city council meeting.

The parks and recreation department is leading renovation efforts. Benton said that the department is one of Fulton’s greatest strengths, and that it’s imperative the city explores every opportunity it can to keep it that way.

“I think our parks and recreation department offers a wide array of things to our community, helping them all the way from cooking to baseball,” Benton said. “Because of that, I just think it’s really wise that we continue to evaluate our programs to ensure that there isn’t anything out there that we’re not addressing.”

Benton sad he has heard a lot of complaints that there isn’t enough for young people to do in Fulton. He thinks that this project could provide some answers to that problem.

“Smaller communities always have a problem, whether it’s real or perception, as far as young folks having something available for them to do,” Benton said. “Hopefully we’ll come out of this ten year planning and see what kind of venue and what kind of offerings that the city might be able to help address, which they would of course like to see.”

Benton said that an indoor pool, as well as a new outdoor pool with up-to-date leisure facilities, are the two of the most pressing goals that the city would like to accomplish. He said that it’s tough for a town like Fulton to find money for such expansion, but that this new plan could bring it to fruition.

“There are some programs which are very costly, which is very hard for a smaller community to address. This project allows us to explore how we can make that happen,” Benton said.

City officials said that the project will begin as soon as they determine what improvements Fulton citizens wish to see completed. 

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