Butler City Council will vote next month on applying for a $100,000 state grant to pay half the cost of a renovation project at Father Marinaro Park next year.

Councilman Jeff Smith conducted a virtual meeting Wednesday evening to outline the project, its cost and its scope.

“This will be one of the biggest projects in park history,” Smith said.

The project involves repaving the parking lot off Kaufman Drive, raising the softball field's outfield fence to 10 feet, constructing a new walkway, creating a 40-by-40-foot playground area with playground equipment, constructing a 16-by-24-foot pavilion, creating a new softball field, paving the basketball courts and erecting a fence between the courts and playground.

Smith said the new softball field should be in demand due to the recent closure and sale of the Highfield Park in Butler Township.

Raising the fence of the existing field will help prevent fly balls from landing in the playground, he said.

Estimated project costs are $42,498 for the new playground, $48,847 for the new softball field and fence, $26,000 for paving the basketball courts, $8,000 to upgrade the existing softball field, $5,350 for the pavilion, about $27,000 for repaving the lot, about $15,000 for new sidewalks, about $15,000 for new stormwater drainage and about $3,000 for new trees. A $10,000 contingency for unanticipated costs is included. The total cost is $200,466, he said.

The city would have to provide a $100,000 match to the $100,000 grant it will seek from the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources.

Smith said $50,000 from the October 2020 sale of the South Side Playground to the Berean Bible Chapel, a $2,500 payment made in lieu of taxes from the church and a $10,000 grant the city would seek from the county's park renovation grant program in 2022 would make up $62,500 of the city's match.

Community Development Block Grant money, possible contributions from stakeholders and volunteer labor would also count toward the match, he said.

Council will vote on the DCNR grant application during its April 8 meeting. If approved, the application would be submitted on April 14. The DCNR is expected to announced grant recipients in the fall, and work would begin in spring 2022, he said.

The virtual meeting drew an audience of 24 people. Although none of them commented on the proposal, Smith said the attendance shows the community is interested in the project.