Harlingen proposes Gutierrez Park overhaul

Residents are getting a chance to speak out on the city’s parks projects as officials mull a makeover of Gutierrez Park while considering building Harlingen’s first indoor recreational center.

Now, commissioners are calling a public hearing Friday, requesting residents help them pick a big project to tap for grant funding.

At City Hall, officials are planning to apply for three Texas Parks and Wildlife Department grants.

“Amounts are still being worked on,” Ana Hernandez, the city’s special projects director overseeing a grant writing program, said, referring to the grant requests. “We should have a better idea of which projects we’ll submit after Friday’s city commission workshop.”

During the meeting, commissioners are planning to request residents help them rank the parks department’s top 10 projects carrying the biggest price tags, lining them up for prospective grant applications, including proposed upgrades to the Wilson Sports Complex and the Harlingen Soccer Complex.

Earlier this week, commissioners proposed turning Gutierrez Park, for decades a draw for prostitution and drugs, into a family-themed town square while discussing a project to build an indoor recreational center on city-owned land.

“I really think we need to do something with Gutierrez Park,” Mayor Norma Sepulveda told commissioners during Monday’s meeting. “It’s impacting the businesses in that area. We need to take that park back to the community. If we’re really going to revitalize downtown, that needs to be a focus — and that’s right in the middle of our community.”

As commissioners mulled the proposal, Sepulveda described “options” to turning the park into a “town square.”

“It needs to be completely re-imaged,” she said. “When you’re driving through town and you see Gutierrez Park, it would be nice to have something there … making it vibrant and pretty, kind of like a town square.”

The meeting turned into a two-hour brainstorming session.

“It needs to be a completely different park,” Sepulveda said. “I wonder if it could have a dedicated stage area, just a place where families could get together and watch movies. I think I’d like to see Gutierrez Park with some pickleball courts and some food trucks, then it could be a place where adults and kids could hang out. I think that would change the vibe in that area.”

During discussion, commissioners also proposed a plan to build an indoor recreational center.

At City Hall, City Manager Gabriel Gonzalez said officials haven’t determined the proposed project’s cost “yet.”

“This would be a large facility to service the whole city,” Sepulveda said during the meeting. “I just think the city needs one — and if it could be centrally located that would be ideal. But we have to be realistic — where we have land and it’s available, and what the cost is. I think everybody wants to save as much money as possible.”

In response, Javier Mendez, the city’s parks director, pointed to Pendleton Park as a possible site.

“That’s the one that has the most green space where we can build a center,” he told commissioners.

Citing Pendleton Park as a flood-prone area, Commissioner Frank Morales proposed building the center at Victor Park.

Amid discussion, Sepulveda called on officials to consider park projects featuring covered areas.

“We need to be conscious that we’re in South Texas and it’s really hot,” she told commissioners. “The kids and families need shade for the sports that are happening in the different parks. Maybe that’s a cost we need to absorb as a city. I think that needs to be a priority. As we’re looking toward the future on all projects, we need to be considering that and how we can implement that.”

In a presentation, Mendez outlined his top 10 proposed projects carrying the biggest price tags, with a $5.3 million overhaul of the Wilson Sports Complex topping the list, including plans for a walking trail, basketball courts, restrooms and a lighted sports field.

Next on the list, the Harlingen Soccer Complex’s proposed $4.9 million project calls for three more playing fields, covered bleachers, restrooms and more parking.

The list includes a $2.1 million project at Arroyo Park aimed at renovating basketball courts and upgrading the playing field while building a covered picnic pavilion.

During the meeting’s public comment period, Parkwood residents spoke out against the proposed third phase of the Arroyo Colorado Hike and Bike Trail, a project calling for a 1.1-mile extension running from McKelvey Park to Hugh Ramsey Nature Park, part of a master plan aimed at connecting the city’s trail system.

Last year, commissioners launched a $216,632 engineering study to help determine the proposed extension’s route.

Meanwhile, Commissioner Michael Mezmar is standing up against the project, warning it would lead officials to impose the law of eminent domain to run the trail across private property.

“Scrub that because that’s eminent domain and people live there — you’re putting a trail in,” he told officials.

In its place, Mezmar proposed officials extend the Hike and Bike Trail from Hugh Ramsey Nature Park to the east.

“There are no homes to be affected if you put it on the north side of the arroyo,” he said.

From the podium, Parkwood homeowner Tony Rodriguez told commissioners he would fight a project that would run the 6-foot-wide asphalt trail across part of his woody backyard.

“I’m begging you to please leave it as is,” he told commissioners, warning the trail would draw crime to the area. “It’s safe, it’s quiet and it’s peaceful. There are all kinds of animals. I saw an ocelot a couple of years ago. It’s one of the last pristine areas in Harlingen and I want to keep it that way for us and a couple hundred other people. I respectfully will accept any decision you make, but I must say I’ll try to do anything I can to stop it.”

Taking the podium, Yvonne Payton described her backyard as a native wildlife corridor.

“It’s a very natural habitat for a lot of different animals and things,” she told commissioners. “We just love that feeling of keeping it safe and keeping it peaceful and having these animals be able to go back there without any kind of interruption.”