City of Indio leaders break ground on new thirty-eight acre sports park complex

A groundbreaking ceremony was held at 3:00 p.m. for a new sports park complex along Avenue 44 and Jackson on Wednesday. City leaders, parents, and kids all showed up for the big moment.

The groundbreaking means that construction on the 38-acre park is now officially underway on the project more than 15-years in the making. The construction process now goes into phase one, meaning crews will begin building a walking trail, an event center, several shaded sports areas, baseball fields, soccer fields, softball fields and football fields. The park will also feature several picnic spots and bbq pits.

Community member that News Channel Three's Tori King spoke with say they're happy to see a new park coming to the area.

"Oh my gosh, we're so excited," said Becky Zamudio. "This neighborhood, we have lived here in the city for gosh, 66-years. And we've been waiting for something like this to come on this end of Indio for a very long time.” Her husband Mike agrees.

"I'm so excited to see families, you know, kids, especially because we don't have facilities out here that that you could say is a full park where they have soccer, football, baseball, softball," said Mike Zamudio. "We don't have that in this in this city, so it will be nice to see and hear families having a wonderful time together.” He also says it'll boost the local economy.

"This is going to be huge for the community," said Zamudio. "For kids from all around, not just Indio. I'm talking down the road. We're gonna get visitors from Palm Desert, La Quinta, Palm Springs, out of town. We're gonna get them from San Bernardino and Riverside. I would love to see us get some tournaments going here in the future to help support some local businesses. I'm sure a lot of them will be coming here now.”

One mother, Jennifer Gonzalez was emotional while watching the groundbreaking. Her teenage son Dayton sent a letter to the City Council asking for a park here when he was in elementary school; he's now a senior about to graduate high school.

"He actually wrote a letter when he was in fifth grade to the city council to build a park nearby. And he is now a senior, so to see this, this is amazing," said Gonzalez. "Growing up in north Indio, seeing this is awesome. It's very emotional because this is my town. This is my city. It's where I grew up and to see my kid about to go off to college, is emotional. He helped this happen, and now my little one will be able to enjoy the park nearby in the future.”

The project will cost around $8.5 million, which will be funded by a state grant. The rest of the money will come from the city's general fund.