An anticipated community park inside the city-owned Fair Park is one step closer to reality after at least a decade of planning.
The Dallas City Council Park, Trails, and the Environment committee voted Tuesday to send the construction agreement to the full city council for a vote this week.
The park’s construction will be managed by Fair Park First. The nonprofit previously oversaw the private management company, Oak View Group, responsible for running Fair Park. The city ended those contracts after a 2024 independent audit found Fair Park First had misallocated $5.7 million in donor funds managed by OVG. Both groups have denied wrongdoing.
Ryan O’Connor, deputy director of Dallas Park and Recreation, said he believes the nonprofit can manage the 18-acre park construction after reviewing a new preliminary audit.
“There was nothing that I have seen that was some sort of smoking gun,” O’Connor said during the meeting. “It pointed out things that needed to be improved, things that we're all very familiar with, as has been discussed over the course of this issue.”
But he added later that the preliminary audit wasn’t expansive enough because not enough money was allocated to do it. The department is planning a briefing to the city council on that preliminary audit’s findings.
The total Community Park project cost is expected to be $40 million. Fair Park First has already raised $33 million from donors, many of whom are South Dallas community leaders. Much of that funding is tied to the nonprofit and wouldn’t be available to the city if it worked with another group on the park’s construction.
Council member Adam Bazaldua, whose district would include the park, said he approves of the agreement because he doesn’t want to, “pull the rug out from under work that's been done in the community.”
“I think that we have the right accountability and oversight built in so that we can pull the plug and keep our fiduciary responsibility to the city, while also delivering on the promises and the representation that we are supposed to have for the residents of South Dallas,” Bazaldua said.
Representatives for a Community Park task force created by the Park and Recreation Board told the committee on Tuesday the city should work with Fair Park First, but with conditions.
The contract would require the nonprofit to give the city council quarterly updates and monthly updates to the Park and Rec director. A formal issue escalation pathway would be established so the city manager could get involved in any disputes, and any remaining money would also go into a fund for the park’s benefit, pending donor approval.
At least one member of the park board’s task force, Ken Smith, dissented. He said not all the financial records they requested could be provided by Fair Park First, including those related to the nonprofit’s relationship with OVG.
“We really had good discussion about it, but I don't believe that we should make a recommendation,” Smith told the committee. “We should just turn our findings over to you, and then let you do the heavy lifting because the scope that we were provided was so narrow it didn't get at all of the information that we thought we needed as a body to do a real good piece of deliberative work.”
Fair Park First is aiming to have the park open by November 2027. Council members Paul Ridley and Chad West were skeptical of the construction timeline.
“I think that it's pretty aggressive,” West said. “I’ve personally never had a construction project finish on time in my own experience, and I think the city's usually a little bit slower.”
Fair Park First representative Jason Brown told the committee the design phase is already completed, and they will have to work on construction plans next if they get approval.
The city will have the option to take over the project if Fair Park First does not finish construction in 24 months.
Council member Kathy Stewart said the construction agreement is good, but Fair Park First needs to be transparent about construction for the park to be successful.
“This is a construction project and there's not one I've ever been a part of that didn't have delays, that didn't have cost overruns, that's just part of it,” Stewart said. “So it’s more of when some of those things happen that we just need to be transparent, please be transparent."
Dylan Duke is KERA's Breaking News Reporter. Got a tip? Email Dylan Duke at dduke@kera.org.
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