Aug. 19, 2013

Leesburg in midst of park expansion, other improvements

By SCOTT WRIGHT

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LEESBURG — Since the recent expiration of the 10-year tax abatement that helped persuade KTH to build an automotive plant here over a decade ago, the town of Leesburg has a little extra money to spend on its citizens.

One of the main areas Mayor Edward Mackey and the members of the Town Council have focused their improvement efforts on, so far, has been the town's park system.

Upgrades are underway at locations behind the volunteer fire department on Lokey Street and adjacent to the softball complex on Park Street near Highway 411.

“We bought this land about six or seven years ago from the Moon estate, and we used a grant to do these improvements,” Mackey said about the new park on Lokey Street, where he spoke with The Post last week. “We built a pavilion, and we put in the walking track on our own.”

Mackey said an older pavilion in the park cost around $14,000. He said the new one, which still needs a concrete floor, has only cost around $3,700 so far because the town cut through red tape to get it built.

“We found out it's so much easier if you know what you're doing and you've got a little money,” Mackey said. “You can cut out thousands, thousands from the cost.”

Mackey said he and the members of the Town Council saw a need for improvements because the park has proven extremely popular with both locals and out-of-town tourists. To date, between local money and federal grants, there has been somewhere around $100,000 spent on the Lokey Street location.

“On the weekend, this place is packed out,” Mackey said. “They come from everywhere. That's one reason we wanted to put in some new playground equipment over there” at the softball complex.

Mackey said the town has already installed security cameras at the park on Lokey Street and at the town-owned Leesburg Landing RV campground and boat launch on the other side of Highway 411.

“We had to, because people are always messing with our stuff,” he said. “Hopefully, that will stop some of it, if they know they are on camera.”

Mackey said he likes the idea of installing lights around the walking track, if that's what the Council wants to do.

“We've even talked about putting in one of those fountain-type sprinkler systems for the kids to play in,” Mackey said. “That's something we have already talked about.”

“We've been fortunate to accumulate some money, and we're trying to distribute it out equally,” Mackey said. “We get several thousand dollars extra a month from the taxes the town now collects from KTH, and the other businesses that are starting to do better. It's given us some money to do some things with.”

In addition to the park enhancements and an upcoming sewer expansion project, Mackey said the town is also working on a plan to perform a major overhaul at Leesburg Landing.

“I'm excited about it,” Mackey said. “We've already got money for bathhouses on the primitive campground and we'll start charging. We also want to build a large pavilion over there.”

Mackey said he also has a meeting planned with officials from state agencies to discuss the idea of building a 200-lot parking area near the boat ramp at Leesburg Landing.

“If we can ever get all the permits,” Mackey chuckled. “And we've got a surplus bulldozer, and I like to do that kind of stuff since I'm retired. So we can help ourselves a little bit, save even more money.”