Construction to complete Guillermo Ochoa Park in east Ceres is set to commence Jan. 16 through the fall, meaning the park will be off limits to public use for most of the year.
With its bare ground and weeds, Ochoa Park in the Eastgate area hasn’t been much of an attraction but city officials expect it to be a premiere park once completed.
While that’s going on, the city is also revamping Smyrna Park with parts of it closed off to the public.
In October the council awarded Stockbridge General Contracting Inc. the contract to finish Ochoa Park with amenities requested by east Ceres residents. The contract is costing the city $1.93 million and with a 10 percent contingency the entire work could reach $2.1 million.
In 2020 the city got as far as grading the site and installing some landscaping materials, a play structure, a volleyball area, concrete benches, concrete pavement and an area for corn hole games. But a lack of money prevented the city from completing the park as designed. Since then the park has had an uninviting appearance so the community pressured the council to finish it.
The council decided to spend $1.05 million from the first round of federal ARPA funds, of which $400,000 was allocated to Ochoa Park, and reassigning the $650,000 initially designated to start Lions Park in north Ceres. The council also approved the use of $1,088,100 from the second ARPA allocation of $5.8 million. Another funding source being used is $172,000 in neighborhood park development fees.
Based on input from the community at two public workshops, the city is installing picnic tables, benches, a couple of basketball half courts, Pickle ball courts, a 16-foot by 16-foot shade structure with barbecue grills, drinking fountain, doggie-pot waste station and trash receptacles. Grass, shrubs and trees will also be added with a full irrigation system installed.
City Engineer Kevin Waugh believes that Ochoa Park will be the pride of the city once finished in the fall.
“Basically we took everything that we could from our surveys and our public workshops and created a design that needs additional walkway from the corner to the northwest as well as adding the Pickle Ball and basketball courts,” said Waugh.
The city has not identified how it will pay to finish Lions Park.
An unfinished Ochoa Park was dedicated in July 2021. Since this the Eastgate community has demanding the city finish what it started.
The park was initially named Eastgate Park but renamed o remember the legacy of the late ex-city councilman Guillermo Ochoa.
Ochoa died at age 54 in 2015. Among those attending the dedication ceremony were his widow, Martha Ochoa, and their two children, Kimberly and Christian.
