Long-awaited repairs are coming to Guadalupe’s LeRoy Park and its community center, according to Guadalupe Mayor John Lizalde, who announced on July 10 that the city was awarded a $4.5 million federal grant to fund the project.
A sprinkler system, barbeque pits, and new landscaping will be added to the 5-acre park, which Lizalde said is in dire need of renovations. The community center, which hosts city events and currently houses the Boys and Girls Clubs of Santa Maria Valley’s Guadalupe clubsite, needs extensive flooring, roofing, and facade repairs, a new air conditioning system, and code compliance upgrades.
Renovations to the building alone could cost more than $400,000, Lizalde said, funding that he said would not have been available to Guadalupe without the grant.
“We’re moving forward but we’re still dealing with the deficit,” Lizalde told the Sun. “We don’t have a whole lot so we need these grants that can assist us.”
It’s the third time Guadalupe officials have applied for grants to fund the LeRoy Park repairs since 2015, Lizalde said. Although the city’s first two attempts were unsuccessful, the city’s years of hard work finally paid off.
The $4.5 million Community Development Block Grant was awarded to Guadalupe through a federally funded U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development program that works to help smaller cities and counties create jobs, homes, services, and businesses.
The application process was extremely competitive, according to Guadalupe City Administrator Cruz Ramos, who said the 3-inch thick application binder included surveys, community meetings, and months of research, all work that she said was well worth improving Guadalupe’s limited park space.
Youth services have been provided at LeRoy Park by the Boys and Girls Clubs of Santa Maria Valley in partnership with the city of Guadalupe for more than 20 years, Ramos said, a vital city feature for kids under the age of 18, a demographic that she said makes up 34 percent of Guadalupe’s population.
“We need a place for people to recreate,” Ramos said.
Work is expected to begin on the project sometime in June 2019, Ramos said, once the grant contract has been officially laid out and construction bids have been awarded.
Boys and Girls Clubs of Santa Maria Valley CEO Jeremy Deming said the project will give his organization an opportunity to expand and improve its youth services in Guadalupe.
The Boys and Girls Club offers after-school services in the LeRoy Park community center to nearly 60 kids each weekday from 2:30 to 6:30 p.m. during the school year. But because of the building’s dilapidated interior, Deming said the organization had to relocate its usual summer services to Mary Buren Elementary School this summer.
The construction is much needed, he said, and the grant well deserved.
“We’re just really hopeful and grateful to the city for their ongoing collaboration in this,” Deming said.
This article appears in Jul 19-26, 2018.