Additions to Gene Cummings Park will soon come to fruition for Fort Stockton residents and visitors.

The Fort Stockton City Council held a groundbreaking ceremony on April 25 at the park for the new walking trail, basketball court pavilion, and water reclamation additions, which are scheduled to be finished by June 17.

The council authorized an expenditure not to exceed $300,000 from the Fort Stockton Economic Development 4-B Corporation for the park improvements at their regular meeting on April 11.

“The EDC has been tremendous with the park upgrades they’ve done. They’ve updated the dog park and the kids playground,” city manager Frank Rodriguez said. “There are still a few things we want to do, upgrade the waterpark/spray features. The kids really do enjoy this during the summer.”

The pouring of the new trail, which is scheduled to be the first addition completed, began a week ago. Rodriguez explained that the basketball court pavilion should be finished shortly after the walking trail.

The water reclamation project could exceed the June 17 target finish date due to the shortage of water tanks according to EDC director Remie Ramos.

But, once in place, water usage at the park will significantly decrease.

“What we’ve come to find out is the spray park uses a lot of water and creates a lot of wastewater. It’s actually more water than this park can consume,” Ramos said. “Everyday the spray park will run all day long and we’ll have a pump system that puts water in a storage tank. Then at night we press water out of that tank into the sprinkler system and spray the park.”

Follow progress of the park in upcoming additions of the Pioneer.