SOUTH PADRE ISLAND — To attract young families to live on the Island, the City Council is creating more parks for children.
“We have a lot of young families that live on the Island with children and they have no place to go,” Mayor Berry Patel said. “Hopefully, this will also encourage young families to buy homes on the Island.”
The Island’s newest park — John L. Tompkins Park at 6100 Padre Blvd. — will be fitted with a walking lane, playscapes, basketball courts, soccer field and a skate park.
The park is now entering phase two of construction.
The South Padre Economic Development Corporation invested $100,000 to help build the park.
The total cost for the project is $703,433.
Funding assistance came from the state sales tax on sporting goods through the Local Park Grant program administered by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.
The city will be applying for another grant of $500,000 to help pay to complete the park.
“The city had been talking about a new park for a very long time,” Patel said. “And the City Council and people are very excited to get this park done.”
The new park is named after John L. Tompkins, a patriarch of the Island who was a developer who had a vision in the 1950s and 60s to make the Island available for public use.
Back then, when Tompkins began planning the development of the Island, the only way to reach the beach was by boat.
In those days, the Island was called Padre Beach long before there was a causeway.
Tompkins died in 1969.
Patel said a committee is working to erect a statue of Tompkins in his honor to be placed at the park.
“Tompkins was somebody who wanted to grow the Island tourism industry and he worked very hard to do that and I’m glad we are now carrying on his dream of making the Island a vacation destination for Texans and beyond,” Patel said.
The city held the groundbreaking ceremony for the park in October 2015.
Patel said the next phase should be complete by the end of the year.
The city obtained grant funding from Texas Parks and Wildlife and allocated local funds to make the park a reality.
Patel said the park will be a great asset to the residents and families that visit South Padre Island.
“We need to build infrastructure and that means parks for kids,” Patel said. “I’m trying to encourage young families moving here and commuting to work in Brownsville, San Benito, Harlingen and McAllen.”
