Dallas (WBAP/KLIF News) – Dallas has accepted a $50 million donation for a park to be built between the levees along the Trinity River. The 285-acre park would include paths and levees, designed by a firm that has designed parks in other urban areas, including Houston and New York City.
“It’s been talked about for more than two decades,” says Mayor Mike Rawlings. “The citizens voted on it at the end of the nineties. Once we showed that design, that’s what really took it to the next level.”
Rawlings says the park would be designed with levels, so in case of flood, the lowest level would simply include plants that are able to withstand high water.
The final cost of the park has not been determined. Rawlings says Dallas will hold several meetings to hear ideas for what to include. A decision may come in about a year.
“The long-term look of the park is going to be reflective of what the citizens want,” he says.
The donation is the largest ever for the City of Dallas. The Harold Simmons Foundation offered the donation for the park between the Margaret McDermott Bridge and Ron Kirk Bridge, which had carried Continental Avenue and is now a pedestrian bridge.
“We want to do it right. We want to do it great,” says Trinity Trust’s Deedie Rose. “I think the Trinity River Corridor, when it was encased in concrete, I think it became a divider.”
Rawlings says the design of the park includes the proposed toll road along the Trinity. He says the money donated will not go toward construction of the highway.
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