Neighbors at Dallas White Rock Lake Park claim city employees damaged a native grassland and wildflower field while working on new ball fields at Winfrey Point.
A mountain of dirt gathered from releveling one field sits on part of what was the nature area.
Brothers Ted and Hal Barker live beside the park and they’ve watched the job. The brothers said city dump trucks and bulldozers drove through the nature area.
"They poured concrete water on this turf," Ted Barker said. "It took hundreds of years for this turf to develop and it only took them a month to destroy it."
James Paige, area maintenance supervisor for the Dallas Parks Department, said there is no permanent damage to the nature area.
Paige said the mountain of dirt was placed at the edge of the nature area because other places were too busy with heavy equipment when construction was underway.
"This ground will all be restored back to the way it was, to park land property, once we complete all the renovations here on the ball fields and we get them up and going," Paige said.
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The baseball fields are being rebuilt by city workers with money provided by a Little League.
The Barker Brothers say it was due to be finished March 1st but the site is still a mess.
"Normally if you have a general contractor doing it, they’d come in, go ahead and finish it. But this is a piecemeal effort apparently"” Hal Barker said.
Paige winter weather delayed the work.
"We had days it was too wet to get the dozers in and out of here and days it was too wet to pour concrete. So we did loose quite a bit of valuable time this winter," Paige said.
The Little League played spring games in another Dallas park. The new White Rock Lake Park fields are now expected to be ready for July games.
The Dallas Parks Department budget has been slashed in recent years and it is due to face more cuts this year. So, Paige said partnerships like the one with the Little League are necessary. The Little League will also help the city maintain the new fields in the future.
"I’m pleased with the way the field is turning out now," Paige said. "This is going to benefit the kids of Dallas and this is going to be a great partnership with the parks department for years to come."
