After receiving surplus Vision funds earlier this year, Sand Springs gets a private donation to renovate River City Park.
Case & Associates CEO Mike Case donated $2 million toward renovations. Case said he wants to make the park something extraordinary.
"Not just a city park with grass and trees, but splash pads and event centers and new restrooms and boulevard signage — something that makes it special," Case said. "It's a special city, and we want to help make the park special as well."
Mayor Mike Burdge said this is how it used to be.
"Private donations and private people did almost everything that was done in the community other than just the bare necessities," Burdge said. "That's why all of the old parks and all of the old places are named after private people and organizations."
Besides renovations, the funds are being used to buy more land for the park from Sand Springs Home.
Burdge said the city’s planning to build a playground and repair sports facilities.
"There's going to be a lot of traffic here. We're not that far from the baseball complex. It took a lot of damage from the storm," Burdge said. "We'll get it back by next year, so next baseball season — and soccer in the spring — we're going to see a lot of people come down through here."
In February, Tulsa County approved nearly $3 million in surplus Vision 2025 sales tax funds for Sand Springs. Some of that is also going toward work on the park.
Park projects are currently in the planning and design stage.
