ELK GROVE, CA (MPG) - The Cosumnes Community Services District’s Parks Advisory Committee received updates on multiple local parks at its March 12 regular meeting.

John Ebner, a parks and recreation program manager, began his presentation with Glenn and Jessie Beeman Park, saying the district wants to revitalize the park.

Located on Sharkey Avenue, behind the Elk Grove Unified School District offices, the park includes the renovated Gil Albiani Recreation Center.

“Now we’re up to the point where we want to revitalize Beeman Park,” Ebner said. 

The project would be funded, Ebner said, by various sources, including pandemic-relief money from the American Rescue Plan Act, Measure E dollars and local lighting and landscaping district funds.

“It needs a little work. There’s definitely the playground structure that needs to be replaced and we’re going to add a few amenities in terms of making it a lot nicer, including adult exercise equipment,” Ebner said.

He said a barn on the site would remain standing in the first round of renovations, due to funding limitations.

In addition, the revitalization would aim to improve sight lines in the park. Addressing concerns about the fate of pear trees at the park, Ebner said they would probably be taken out and replaced with new pear trees. The plan for the park was developed with public input at community meetings.

Cosumnes Community Services Board President Jim Luttrell said the site needs attention.

“It’s a mess. (I) don’t got to that site very often, but when I went over there … I looked around, and it’s in need,” said Luttrell, who serves as a board liaison for the committee.

The project is expected to break ground in spring 2025, Ebner said, with an opening in late 2025 or early 2026.

Find details of the Beeman Park revitalization plan online at bit.ly/4acT0Yb (case sensitive).

Revitalization work at Town Square Park, adjacent to Laguna Town Hall, has been delayed by drainage issues exacerbated by recent rainstorms, Ebner said. He anticipated that the project would finish in the next two to three weeks.

Committee member Hollis Erb said the neighborhood has been waiting since before the COVID-19 pandemic for the park to be revitalized.

The removal of some vegetation “opened it up, and it made the whole park look huge,” committee member Linda Rivera said. “Before, it was kind of claustrophobic.”

Renovations at Rotary Grove in Elk Grove Regional Park have been delayed by a month because cross beams for the project had been manufactured incorrectly, Ebner said. He hoped the work would be completed by mid-April, as the district has planned a volunteer appreciation event at the site in late April.

Other parks and facilities discussed included the planned Unity Park, on Wayne Heintz Street in the Crooked Creek neighborhood; CORE Recreation Center, which is under construction at Morse Community Park; and McConnell Park.

The meeting was the first for newly appointed members Bret Bartholomew, Ashley Bergen and Alicia Rios. District staff said they were pleased that the committee now has 10 members; they hope to increase the membership to represent some more benefit zones.