Changes coming to Stuart Park

School is almost out for the summer. Once kids in Chubbuck are out for the summer, there will be a new and improved park for them to play at.

The city of Chubbuck is remodeling Stuart Park. Chubbuck Mayor Kevin England said Stuart Park is part of a larger revitalization effort by the city.

England said Stuart Park was chosen because it’s an older park and also because it was considered a pretty centralized park in the city.

The park will be adding pavilions, picnic tables, a new playground and the city’s first splash pad.

“We felt like if we were going to be inviting for outside folks to come in, these were the kinds of things we needed to start doing,” said England.

England said the money for the project is coming from city council funds available for projects like it. he said the project has been in the works since the beginning of summer 2016.

England said he feels the park will be a great asset to the city and its residents.

Lyle Liston, who lives across from the park, said he has mixed feelings about the work being done.

Liston said while he thinks it will overall be a good thing, and he’s glad the city is trying to do something, he feels it’s lacking some things.

“We were supposed to get a baseball diamond back and we’re not getting that back,” he said. “I would like to see where the cell tower is, if a basketball court could go in there for something for the older kids to play. It it a good thing though. It needed some updates and they’ve looked after that.”

“This is just the start,” England said. “We have a commitment to revitalizing the city of Chubbuck and we have plenty of areas that have need but it’s cool to see the kind of support from citizens as we go out and do this.”

England said bad weather did delay construction a bit, but the city plans to have a ribbon cutting for the park on May 25. He said, right now, it is on schedule to keep that date.

He also said the city is looking at possibly doing some upgrades to Contant Park later this year as well. Though it would be nothing as significant as Stuart Park.

This summer, Stuart Park will host free movies in the park. A schedule of dates and movies can be found here.