By Shannon McFarlin WENK/WTPR News Director
Paris, Tenn.—The city of Paris will unveil its long-range plan for a splash pad and water recreational area proposed for the Eiffel Tower Park at public input meetings that will be held during the coming week and next week.
City officials said they are still in the planning phase and will be applying for a grant to offset some costs of the project, so public input is important. The first public input meeting will be held at 11 a.m. Thursday, March 22, at the Atkins-Porter Recreation Center. The second meeting will be held at 4 p.m. April 5, right before the Paris City Commission meeting.
The city last week indicated its plans for a splash pad, but in a new press release, city officials expanded on the full project. City officials said the proposed recreational area will cover approximately 40,000 square feet and include a toddler splash area, family splash area, restrooms, pavilions, and rain gardens, along with improved parking and extended sidewalks.
The area is planned to be located on the right hand side of the driveway into the park across the street from the Eiffel Tower (the area currently a field used for flag football). City officials said there will still be several flag football fields further into the park.
A little over a year ago, the city joined forces with TLM Associates to develop the long-range improvement plan for Eiffel Tower Park.
“Our overall goal with this plan is three-fold: to increase the amount of recreational and quality-of-life opportunities of our citizenry; to improve the overall health of our community by offering lots of options for enjoyable physical activity; and to create a destination park to serve as an economic driver for our community,” officials said.
They noted that the city picked off the first piece of this plan last summer when the city added three water slides to our outdoor pool. This addition was tremendously successful and is spurring us on to focus on our next step which is to add a splash pad and water recreational area.
“We’re really excited about the possibility of this addition, but we would like to know what you think,” they said. The public can comment on the post on the city of Paris Facebook page or better yet, come to the public input meetings.
Next week’s meeting is at 11 a.m. Thursday at the A-P Rec Center at the corner of S. Highland and Walnut St. (right beside the city dog park). The April 5 meeting is at 4 p.m. at the Chamber office.
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