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Benton Voters Approve Riverside Park (Honorable Mention in Quality | Over 20,000)

2 min read

When Benton voters approved a sales tax initiative in the fall of 2013, the city’s big picture came into focus.

More than 63 percent of voters approved a half-cent tax that funded the $36 million Riverside Park development, which will be anchored by the 87,000-SF River Center and is scheduled to open in the fall of 2016.

The development satisfies a long-time need for Benton, and voters’ willingness to fund it earned Benton recognition as a 2014 City of Distinction for quality of life.

The River Center will serve as a community center with four, full-size basketball courts, a natatorium with a competition swimming pool and a leisure pool, weight and cardio-training rooms and an indoor walking track.

In addition, the center will double as an events center, playing host to large-scale events such as concerts, sporting events and even Benton High School graduation ceremonies. In the past, BHS graduation ceremonies have been held in Little Rock.

The park also will include a new 50,000-SF Boys & Girls Club, an 18,500-SF Senior Adult Wellness Center, a five-field girls’ softball complex and a three-field soccer complex.

Public meetings and a city-wide survey helped determine what amenities Benton residents wanted the park to include, and a community center and an aquatics center were the most popular choices. Ultimately, the park will require the addition of 10 full-time city workers and 20 part-time employees.

“When citizens say they are willing to tax themselves to pay for things they haven’t had in the past, that says a lot,” said Benton Mayor David Mattingly. “Benton is now a community on the move. The citizens have bought into a plan that will make us competitive. I feel so fortunate that I get to be the head cheerleader for this.”

Plus, the park will be green — in reality and practice. Park facilities will be sustainable and the use of enhanced stream and wetlands mitigation will replace vegetation disturbed by construction.

“The Boys & Girls Club building, for example, will incorporate cisterns designed to capture rain run-off from the roof that will be used to irrigate an educational garden,” said John Eckart, Benton Parks & Recreation director.

Eckart expects the park to serve as a regional hub for Saline County because of its size, facilities offered and easy access off Interstate 30.

“Riverside Park is 100 percent focused on the enhancement of the quality of life for the citizens of Benton,” he said. “From the overwhelming approval for the project to the scope of needs that will be met with the development, the citizens of Benton paved the way for this to become a reality.”

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