Modesto awarded $8.5M grant in March 2020 to remake a park. Why is work starting only now?
The remaking of west Modesto’s César Chavez Park is expected to start in November, some four and a half years after the state awarded the city an $8.5 million grant to pay for it.
And the project will cost twice as much as initially expected. City officials say the pandemic is behind the cost increases and the project’s extended timeline. The project also was stalled by a lack of Parks, Recreation and Neighborhoods staff and challenges with some of the renovation’s design features.
But officials say the improvements — including an aquatic center with swimming pool, basketball court and soccer field — will transform the roughly 6.25-acre park. PRN Director Jeremy Rogers told City Council members Tuesday, Sept. 10, that the remade park will be “amazing” and that its grand opening in June 2026 will be a “great day and exciting day for the city.”
The renovations include expanding the Maddux Youth Center, a lighted picnic pavilion, a vandal-resistant restroom, a lighted skate plaza, walking paths, security cameras and additional trees and benches.
Once the renovation is completed, Chavez will be the only park among the city’s more than 70 to have a swimming pool. (Graceada Park has a children’s wading pool.)
Modesto once had pools at about two dozen of its parks but started closing them because of budget cuts, a trend it accelerated in the Great Recession of more than a dozen years ago. And the Chavez skate park will the second one at a city park.
Council members unanimously approved a construction contract of as much as $14.98 million with Hilmar-based Harris Construction and a construction management and inspection services contract of as much as $917,111 with Lathrop-based TRC Engineering for the Chavez Park project. These amounts include about $920,000 in contingency funding if needed.
Several council members said the improved park will be a great addition. The $8.5 million state grant targets underserved communities, and west Modesto is a primarily low-income community.
Councilman Eric Alvarez, whose district includes west Modesto, said at the council meeting that he’d “heard nothing but good things” from residents about the renovation, but also frustration about how long the project has taken.
Alverez said residents also are frustrated about the delays in renovating Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Park, which is in his district and which also was awarded an $8.5 million grant from the same state program in December 2021.
Modesto is shifting some funding from the MLK Park project to pay for Chavez Park. But Rogers told council members the MLK renovation will be fully funded when construction starts in June 2025.
Alverez asked how the city will keep residents informed about the developments at MLK, and Rogers said the city already is working on meeting with the residents who use the park.
The Chavez Park’s total cost will be as much as $17.1 million, according to a presentation at Tuesday’s council meeting. Besides the roughly $15.8 million for construction and construction management, the costs include $1 million for design work and roughly $200,000 in city staff time.
Modesto is paying for the park with the $8.5 million state grant, $2.5 million from Measure H — the 1% sales tax increase voters approved in 2022 — $600,000 in what are called community facility fees and nearly $5.5 million in pandemic relief funding the city received from the federal government.
