SOLEDAD — Plans are underway for changes to the Jesse Gallardo Park, which is home to a baseball field, tennis courts and a large span of grass.
Soledad City Council, city staff, the Parks and Recreation Department and members of the public have talked about expanding the park to have two to three Little League and softball fields for years. Those talks are close to a reality now.
City Manager Michael McHatten put the Gallardo Park project out to bid recently. According to McHatten, the plan is to turn the current ballfield into three ballfields and add stadium lighting. The improvements will come in phases.
Sansone Company Inc. was the low bidder of the four that came in. Sansone bid $2,148,000 for Phase 1, which includes all site work for the three new ballfields but construction of only two of them.
The grading of the plot for the third ballfield will be constructed at a later phase along with the lighting.
The bids ranged from $2,584,000 to the low bid from Sansone. Phase 1 of the project itself will be funded through a RDA Bond, the same bond that has helped fund the extension of Nestles Road and other projects.
If the money from the RDA Bond is not used properly, it must be returned to defease the bond.
The city sent out a request for donation for the Gallardo Park project to all local businesses, and while some donations were received, it was not enough to fund the project.
The parking for the project was discussed at the last City Council meeting. Eventually there will be three ballfields, and there is some parking on the street but the council was worried about other parking.
There were several suggestions, including taking out the aging skate park as well as the tennis and basketball courts, but the council urged not to remove them. There are 53 parking spots across the street at Gabilan School that are utilized for parking during events that are available. No start date has been announced for the project.
