Columbia Parks and Rec eyes proposed new development for latest park

Behind Menard’s on Vandiver Drive sits a dozens of acres of undeveloped land that may possibly be the future home of Centerstate Apartments, as well as a new business park.

But people at the Parks and Recreation department want to see a residential park in that northeast area and fear this is their last chance to make it happen.

“There’s not a lot of available land left in this area so it’s in a part of town we’ve been looking to build a neighborhood park in for a long time,” said Mike Snyder, the park-development superintendent. “There’s a lot of high density housing in this area and this is a part of Columbia that’s kind of landlocked by Highway 63 and Paris Road.”

The Parks and Recreation Commission voted unanimously Thursday night to recommend the city acquire the land.

Now it looks like there may be a way to make both the development and a park a reality at the site.

Mike Griggs, Parks and Recreation director, said the developers of Centerstate approached the department about adding a park to the area but it originally declined because there were too many roads cutting through the proposed area. But he said after talking with them, they agreed to realign the roads.

The department is only looking to acquire one acre of the land, even though there would be 10 available for park space.

“We’re going to utilize some of their storm water areas to build a pond that would be an amenity for the park,” Snyder said. “There’s also a wooden buffer that was going to be preserved as part of this development area anyway that we can make as part of the parkland.”

The engineering firm Allstate Consultants, and the developer RUM Inc. have also agreed to add a perimeter trail around the entire site, including the apartment complex and the business park.

The cost to acquire the acre will be about $200,000, which is about $50,000 more than what the department usually allocates toward acquisitions, but because the developer has agreed to help offset the cost of development, department officials said they agreed to pay a little more.

There is no development money set aside for the park but Gabe Huffington, park services manager, said there will most likely be a 2021 park sales tax proposal on the ballot to fund development unless a funding opportunity comes along before that.

The council is set to be introduced to the Centerstate Apartment plan July 3 and the introduction of the park acquisition is set to happen July 17.