Teague, Mill and Ebell park
users the big winners
with state grant program
July 10, 2015
By Peggy Kelly
Santa Paula News
Three parks in Santa Paula and two others in the county will receive $1.2 million in sprucing up money from the California Department of Housing and Community Development.
Ebell, Teague and Mill parks were selected for housing-related park improvement grants due to recent affordable housing projects. Also slated for funding are Ventura’s Westpark Park and Estella Park in Thousand Oaks.
Teague Park, located in the 500 block of West Harvard Boulevard and known for its youth sports programs, and Mill Park, a favorite of picnickers on Ojai-Santa Paula Road/Highway 150, will have restrooms renovated. Both parks were built in the mid-1970s and haven’t been upgraded since.
At Ebell Park, located at the corner of East Main and 7th streets, the original irrigation system from 1964 will receive a complete upgrade. Ebell Park has seen other improvements over the years including an ambitious Rotary Club project that recreated the pergola that had stood in the park — that fronts the Santa Paula Theater Center — for decades; the club also did extensive landscaping including trees. In recent months Rotarians did some ongoing maintenance and replaced some landscaping and trees.
In all, the state grant for the Santa Paula projects is $516,416.
Santa Paula made the list for the grants due to affordable housing projects including the Santa Paula Housing Authority’s Orchard Place, Rodney Fernandez Gardens built and managed by Cabrillo Economic Development Corporation and two Trinity Lane units completed so far by Habitat for Humanity.
Interim Recreation Director Ed Mount said this was the first time the city applied for the grant, which was based on the number of affordable units created from 2010 to 2014.
“There was a base rate,” for the grant then “a formula per unit…and Santa Paula got a bonus of $369,660 for the units.”
The projects were included in the FY 2015-2016 Capital Improvements Budget noting that the funding was pending.
Now that it is official the city will receive the $516,000-plus grant, Mount said staff would start the process to get the projects completed.
The improvements are needed: Mount said Teague Park is especially well used by sports enthusiasts, both adult and youth.
When it comes to soccer, “We have two different sessions during the week and depending on the club there can be 10 teams practicing in two different shifts. And when it comes to the basketball courts I’ve been out there and seen two games going on at the same time with 25 to 30 adults playing…and with the youth basketball program there are quite a bit more.”
Mount added that on weekends Teague, such as Mill Park has barbecues, is a popular spot for family picnics.
The California Department of Housing and Community Development park grant program — a 2006 voter-approved initiative on low-income housing funding that took several years to be implemented — awarded $34 million to qualifying communities across the state.
In Ventura, $421,000 will go toward Westpark Park, one of three skate parks in the city. Tentative plans call a for larger skate bowl and artificial turf for a two-acre area of the park.
Built in the mid-1960s and Thousand Oaks oldest outdoor recreational area, Estella Park is now in line renovate to its playground and tennis court as well as cosmetic improvements funded by the $280,000 state grant.
