 Welcome. This is the Mosier Valley Park project presentation presented by Cornell Gordon Project Manager Parks and Community Services Department. Purpose of this meeting is for development of a master plan for Mosier Valley Park. It includes park amenities such as a playground, shelter, picnic tables, multi-use court, and security lighting. Embrace design that incorporates the interpretive commemoration and historical designation of this area. Project background. The City of Fort Worth City Council authorized a purchase of approximately 4.0 acres of land from HEB Independent School District on February 4th, 2014. The site is located south of Trinity Boulevard and easily accessible from I-829, Highway 121, 183, and Highway 360. It is uniquely nestled between the cities of Hearst, Euless, Fort Worth, and Bedford. Future land development plans for the area are single-family, industrial, mixed-use development, and multi-family units. The history of the park site in 1870, former slaves Robert and Dizelle Johnson received a 40-acre track of land in Mosier Valley as a wedding gift from plantation owner Lucy Lee. Soon other freedmen settled in Mosier Valley and in 1883 a community school was organized. A schoolhouse was built at this site around 1924 and served as a focal point for the surrounding area. The site was the location of the only school open to African-American children in the Mosier Valley area during the first half of the 20th century. In the period between 1900 and 1930 the community reached a peak population of about 300 people. The community was made up entirely of black people who received only a minimal education at the Mosier Valley School. The social life in Mosier Valley focused on church, school, and community. The original school building was replaced by a brick structure in 1953. Mosier Valley students were integrated in 1969. Today the site serves as a reminder of the area's earliest citizens and as a symbol of the community's rich heritage. Overview. The community members for this project had a tremendous challenge. One of those challenges was how do we combine history and recreation. The site existed that we're looking at is a historical site. It was a homestead at one time, a school site, a church, and also served the Masonic Lodge. Traditional parks include a pavilion, playgrounds, walking trails, and athletic fields. One of our non- traditional parks would be considered the water gardens that is right here in this downtown Fort Worth area. We're here today to discuss the master plan. What is a master plan? A master plan provides a long range vision for the built environment of a community. It guides the appropriate use of land for suitable locations of planting elements. It helps provide strategies for increasing economic development of historical and cultural resources. Why is this important to you? The simple answer is that a master plan is important because it affects things you do every day. Master plans guide cities decisions about important issues like where certain types of businesses should be allowed, how much parking should be provided in your neighborhood, what improvements should be made to parks and recreation centers, where the city should improve streets, intersections, bike lanes, and sidewalks, what economic development strategy the city should take. What is the purpose? Our purpose is to design a plan that is a blueprint for the future development of the park. What are our goals? To develop a master plan that will pay tribute to the history of Mosier Valley school site, provide recreational programming amenities for child development, and stimulate the economy base of the area. Our priorities? What other priority needs for this site? Historic use and significance, recreational and fitness areas, historical educational components, and a shelter. Committee members challenge, how do we combine history and recreation? How do we combine the elements of a homestead, a school site, a church, a masonic launch, historical school playground equipment with the modern-day recreational park facility? That is one of the challenges we face when developing this master plan. Design factors. Because of the site's uniqueness, we must take into consideration an ongoing process for community, business, and planning involvement. Sufficient assets and land for staffing, equipment to meet development goals. Accessibility, attraction. As this is an underdeveloped location, it will be key to making this a destination attraction. Flexibility and design to achieve the historical component with recreational programming needs. Establish safety and security components, and the design should incorporate benefits beyond the park boundaries. Conceptual master plan. Key components. In developing the master plan, some key components were derived. One is a parking lot, a gathering space for events, dedication of historical farm and school areas, recreational areas, and a possible location of the old school building. Conceptual master plan. The committee members, along with working with park staff, came up with a conceptual master plan for developing Mosier Valley Park. The park consisted of blending the historical components of the site along with providing recreational components for outdoor activities. In developing the master plan, we incorporated an interpretive exhibit pavilion, a historic hallway site that gives you a journey and a bridge between the two exhibit pavilions. We have an activity court, a parking lot. We provide a playground with individual playground components. We have a location for bringing back the old historic school building, which is currently located in the city of Bedford. We have walking trails with interpretive garden, benches, and picnic tables. Together, we've provided a cohesive blend of history and recreation for all families to enjoy. We hope you will provide a comment for our next meeting on the conceptual master plan. Let's take a closer look inside the schoolhouse pavilion with the mounted exhibits of history, and within it you will find that we have a school pavilion with conceptual renderings to give you an example of what the space might look like. We also provided you with a look of some of the component pieces for our playground system. We've also provided displays of historic farm equipment, historic plaques on the walls, and through the hallway spaces, we'll accent with landscape for attic attraction. Lastly, I want to note the park's budget. Current status is that we have $235,000 in park dedication fees for design and construction. $34,000 is estimated for consultant fees, $187,000 for construction bid for the following components, a shelter, picnic tables, multi-purpose lab, parking, security lighting, and interpretive commemoration. However, to do a good project such as this, we probably will need outside funds and sources to buy some of the key components that are necessary for the historic pavilion to be an economic viability for the community, and to be a destination place for not only the citizens of Fort Worth, but for the citizens of Bedford, Euless, Hurst, and the surrounding areas. For questions, comment, please contact Cornell Gordon at 817-392-5764 via email cornell.gordon at fortworthtexas.gov.