We are continuing the improvements at the Lyerly Park this summer. In the spring of 2010 we began by clearing the back section of the park of the brush and overgrowth that covered it, this made the entire 15 acres of the park useable. This project was completed by town employees and volunteer labor. We continued our efforts with the assistance of the county's inmate work crew and volunteer labor by pouring sidewalks to the restrooms and making them handicapped accessible. We also painted the restrooms and pavilion and lined the parking lot, crosswalk, and installed handicapped parking signs. At the press box we replaced the windows, redid the roof and replaced the rotted out 2nd floor.
Beginning this summer we started by removing the trees that were growing into and damaging the walking track and then having the stumps ground we had to hire a tree service for this because of the size of the trees and their proximity to power lines, the highway, the playground, ballfields, and walking track. We then moved to the back of the park and started thinning the large trees and removing stumps, this phase was completed by Town employees and volunteer labor.
The extension of the park trail is very close to completion. The trees have been cut, Commissioner Winter's had the county crews assist us by removing all of the brush piles and we have installed the necessary drain tiles and roughed in the trail. It is okay to use it now and quite a few runners, walkers, and cyclists have already been taking advantage of it. We are building some park benches to be placed around the trail and are looking at trail surfaces.