Tulsa Standard

The City of Broken Arrow has officially broken ground on Elam Park Phase I, a new 40-acre destination park at 2900 W. Florence St., directly behind Aspen Creek Elementary.

The contractor should begin working on the site in mid-May.

  Project elements include:

· An adaptive playground

· A restroom facility

· A feature fence

· A tree grove food truck court

· An entry drive with parking

City Manager Michael Spurgeon started the ceremony by thanking the individuals who have worked to get the Elam Park project to this stage.

"I love groundbreaking and ribbon-cutting ceremonies because it tells the community, especially when you are going to use their dollars, that we are getting ready to start something that we said we were going to do," Spurgeon said. "About a year from now, we're going to cut the ribbon, demonstrating that we start and finish what we said we would do. We will remind them that they gave us the money and we made something happen. That's exactly what Elam Park Phase I is."

Mayor Debra Wimpee thanked the citizens for approving the 2018 General Obligation bond package used to fund the park.

"The sales taxes and the bond package funds are used to make our city that much greater, so I want to thank the citizens for approving the bond package that helped make this Phase I possible," Wimpee said.

Parks and Recreation Director Matt Hendren is enthusiastic about bringing a park of this magnitude to the community. This project is the first of its kind in Broken Arrow.

"I've been looking forward to this day since I started working for the city in 2019," Hendren said. "There was a lot of work that went into this; the citizen's advisory committee really put a lot of hours and a lot of hard work into creating an overall master plan for Elam Park, as well as Phase I. So, I'd like to thank them for their work."

According to Hendren, the inclusive playground included as a part of Phase I provides a unique opportunity for people of all ages and abilities to play together.

The City Council awarded Voy Construction a $4.3 million contract on March 21. Phase I construction is expected to take 330 days.

Original source can be found here.