by: Diane Benjamin
Update: Park might be south of Hawthorne Hills – Commercial area?
At last Monday’s City Council meeting you got a new park. The guy who gave it to the City gets a big tax write-off. The citizens get to develop it, pay for equipment like swings, slides, etc, and then pay to maintain it. The City loses the property tax revenue. Such a deal.
Considering this property is in Hawthorne Hills, is anybody asking why it’s not their park to build and maintain? Are they going to appreciate the general public flocking to their new park? Watch for buried spending on development in the future. I’m sure a park in the most expensive subdivision in the City isn’t going to be done on the cheap.
Diane, If your map is correct, this park is not in Hawthorne Hills. Hawthorne 1 and 2 both have their own parks which are maintained by fees paid by the homeowners and not by the city. I assume the parks were built by Larry Biefeldt some years ago as he developed the subdivisions. Our yearly fees go to maintain the parks and other common areas, entrances, etc. Both subdivisions have separate homeowners associations. This park appears to be down from the gas station on the corner of Towanda Barnes and Pamela and not in either of the Hawthornes.
Maybe so. The map is from the Council packet. The City can’t pay to keep up the ones they have. Maybe it’s for development way in the future.