For decades, Dallas leaders have talked about creating a park along the Trinity River, but on Monday it became much closer to reality with a $50 million donation and a proposed name: the Harold Simmons Park.
The check from the late billionaire's widow, Annette Simmons, marks the largest private donation toward a city project in Dallas history. It will fund one-fifth of the estimated $250 million cost of the sprawling park between the Trinity levees. The U.S. Corps of Engineers will have to approve any construction in that area, which is in a floodplain.
Smiling widely, Mayor Mike Rawlings said Tuesday the park would finally bridge the longstanding gap between the city's poorer southern sector and the wealthier north.
"This is one of the high points of me being mayor, personally," Rawlings said. "But for a city, it's a remarkable watershed moment. ... The Trinity project in its completion will redefine Dallas for the 21st century. We need a park to do that."
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The donation will fund a significant part of park design and construction between the Margaret McDermott Bridge to the south to the Ron Kirk Bridge to the northwest. The McDermott Bridge spans Interstate-30. The Kirk Bridge was formerly known as the Continental Bridge. The space between them will become Simmons Park. It constitutes some 155 acres of the 285-acre basin considered part of the Trinity River project.
Rawlings called the donation "real financial proof that this can be done." Rawlings said he anticipates the park will be funded mostly through philanthropists in addition to about $27 million of city money available from a 1998 bond package. Management of the park is proposed to be a public-private partnership with the Trinity Park Conservancy -- the new name of Trinity Trust, a nonprofit formed in 2004 that has raised $60 million for Trinity projects including trails and bridges.
"It turns a divider into a connector. What a great thing for a city," said Deedie Rose, chair of the board of the Trinity Trust. "It helps unite a city and if we ever needed it, we need it now."
Harold Simmons, who built his corporate empire from nothing, died at 82 in 2013. At the time, Forbes reported he was worth $10 billion and ranked as the 40th wealthiest American. He was known for investing in a nuclear waste dump and "dirty" industrial companies, as well as donating to Parkland Memorial Hospital and Republican politicians. Annette Simmons said her late husband loved nature and helping Dallas' citizens.
"This gift will begin the creation of a great public space in our city that will be a place to gather, to enjoy nature and promote health and well-being," she said in a news release. "I cannot think of a more lasting and meaningful way to honor Harold's memory and legacy."
The plan for the park will not affect plans for the controversial Trinity toll road, Rawlings said, though he added that the park will obviously need a road so people can access it. He said the council has been discussing speed limits for the road between 45 to 55 miles per hour, and he doesn't want it to be any wider than four lanes -- down from the six-lane highway once proposed.
"We've really decided the park is going to be the client and the partner of this road but that is on a separate path," Rawlings said. "The details of that road will not impact the grandeur of this park."
But former city council member Angela Hunt, who led a 2007 failed referendum to scale down the road, said Rawlings' words don't match the plans the city has proposed.
"This is a massive highway project that will detrimentally affect this park," Hunt said. She said the city should use the generous donation to start building the park design that the federal government approved in April 2015, which came after 12 years of studies.
"Now we're poised to throw that out the window and embark on yet another iteration -- the ninth iteration -- of the park design for the Trinity," she said, adding that starting over could mean another decade before the park is approved.
The donation is one-fifth of the total $250 million estimated cost of the park. The first $10 million will be available immediately for design costs. The trust will organize public meetings in the coming months and the city council will have to approve the terms of the public-private partnership. Using donations, Rawlings said, private firms are currently studying how such arrangements work in other cities such as Houston, San Antonio and Tulsa, and then they will provide best practices to Dallas officials.
City Council member Lee Kleinman, who is the chair of the council's Trinity River and transportation committee, lauded the donation as an important step toward "the green space we so desperately need."
Though ever-changing plans for the road have sparked controversy and division, Kleinman said the park would likely be welcomed by all council members.
"I can't imagine that the council would not get behind a major donation like this to develop a park for the citizens," Kleinman said. "I'm sure this is something we can all support."
But not all council members were ecstatic. Philip Kingston said while he welcomed the donation, he believes Rawlings' plan doesn't make financial or logical sense. He said the park should be smaller, cost around $50 million total and include an access road, not a highway of any sort. He doesn't believe the Corps of Engineers will approve Rawlings' plan.
"It's way too expensive and it's going to get washed away," Kingston said. "In the first flood, we'll lose tens of millions of dollars."
Rawlings disputed that notion, saying the park would be built to withstand floods.
Though Trinity Trust would be in charge of choosing contractors for the project, Rawlings said the city would likely have some say in the process. The city would want to make sure minority contractors get some of the business and that other government agencies are included. Rawlings said the trust will likely use competitive bidding because "that's just good hygiene."
The park will take several years to complete but Rawlings said he wanted it done "sooner versus later." The Simmons donation provides $10 million to the trust immediately to fund design and beginning costs. The remaining $40 million will be dependent on Annette Simmons' or her representatives' "reasonable satisfaction" by Sept. 15, 2019 that the park has adequate funding and proper plans for governance, management and operations.
More Trinity River project stories:
Dallas political football punts Trinity project out of sight
Dallas moving forward with Trinity park plan, mayor says
Mark Lamster: Dallas finally gets a serious plan for Trinity River park
Rawlings hopes $250M Trinity River park moves from concept to reality by 2021
