The City of McAllen Parks and Recreation Department is making major parking and landscaping improvements to the area in and around the De Leon Soccer Complex at 29th and 3 Mile Line. Several live oak trees have been removed to allow the installation of a new parking lot with 130 new parking spaces and 30 new trees. Parks officials say the parking spaces are required under city code requirements because of the high public use in the De Leon Soccer Complex.
“We evaluated 10 live oak trees in the area that were in bad condition because of stress, poor maintenance and a hail storm. The relocation for the trees would have cost more than $20,000 to replant the trees because of their size with no guarantee that the trees would survive the move,” Sally Gavlik, Director of McAllen Parks and Recreation Department said. “Uprooting large trees adds a lot of stress to trees in the process and we have learned after the hailstorm that some trees are showing the stress now.”
In the landscaping plan, there will be 30 trees: live oak and cedar elms for shade; mountain laurels, and crape myrtles for flowering trees. Also, the parks department is adding landscaping to beautify the area.
“During the day, the parking lot will be used by the De Leon Middle School and at night by the hundreds of people who use the soccer and parks facilities,” said Gavlik.
This phase of the De Leon Soccer parks improvement project will cost approximately $218,000 for the new parking lot and landscaping. The entire De Leon Soccer Complex project is approximately $6 million which should be done in May.