Parks dept. buys acreage to expand Clover Dell Park

The Sedalia Parks Department has purchased more than seven acres next to Clover Dell Park from a Sedalia resident.

The department completed the deal last week, agreeing to buy 7.63 acres north of and adjacent to Clover Dell Park at $10,000 an acre from Edward Cook.

The Sedalia Park Board authorized the purchase in a closed session at its July 1 meeting, and the Sedalia City Council signed off on the buy during its July 6 meeting on a 7-0 vote, with Councilman Tony Arbisi, Ward 1, absent from the meeting.

Parks Director Mark Hewett said the $76,788.56 for the deal will come from a department reserve fund set up by the parks board to fund projects that are not in its annual budget.
“We have a reserve set up just for this type of thing,” he said. “When something like this comes up, we can go into the reserve fund, and it will not have an effect on this year’s operating budget.”

Hewett said the department has been examining the potential for purchasing land near the park for several years. After developing a master plan for the park, he said officials and board members recognized the need for an additional exit or entrance.

“We knew we had to look at another entrance because it’s extremely congested out there,” Hewett said.

Along with the potential for adding an entrance or exit at the park, Hewett said other possible plans for the land may include soccer fields or a nature center.

However, he said the department has no immediate plans for the land, except for a possible decorative sign directing motorists to the park’s main entrance. Any expansion efforts are likely at least a year away yet, he said.

“It will give us just a huge amount of options. We’ll be able to go ahead and get a plan in place instead of just hoping we can get access,” Hewett said. “I don’t see any major project taking place in the next year or so, but that’s up to the park board, and now we at least have options.”