Second phase of Sunset Park upgrades to center on lake

The lake at Sunset Park will be at the heart of $11.7 million in upgrades that will begin mid-July and finish late next year.

The work will cover 75 acres of the popular 325-acre park in the southeast valley, making up the second phase of improvements.

The project will be paid for mostly with money from the Bureau of Land Management's property sales. The Regional Transportation Commission is chipping in $65,000.

The project will give park-goers a walking trail that loops around the lake, a pedestrian plaza, a remodeled boat dock, improved picnic shade structures and a playground.

Fitness equipment will be placed along the trail, including stations for steps, pull-ups, sit-ups and stretching. And the lake's pump system and lines will be revamped.

Commissioner Steve Sisolak, whose district encompasses the park, said the project will enhance a recreation area that is getting busier.

The work will cause intermittent disruptions, though none that will shut down the entire park, he said.

During construction, the entrance off Eastern Avenue will be closed at times, but park-goers will be able to enter from McLeod Road and the new gate off Sunset Road, just west of Tomiyasu Lane.

The Age of Chivalry Renaissance Festival, which is held in the park's lake area, will be moved this year to Silver Bowl Park on East Russell Road, said Steve Corry, assistant director of county parks and recreation.

Improvements to the park will be worth any temporary inconvenience, Corry said. The park will become more pedestrian-friendly around the lake and at various entrances, he said.

"The idea is to make people feel more comfortable inside the park," Corry said.

The first phase of renovations, which cost about $11 million, was finished last year. Those upgrades also were paid for mostly with BLM money.

That project added a covered children's play area, a 3.5-acre dog park, paved trails, shaded structures and a roofed platform overlooking the sand dunes near Warm Springs Road.

In 1967, the county bought the land that would become Sunset Park. Before that, the land changed hands a few times, from ranchers to a casino operator to developers who wanted to build a golf course.

The park's master plan outlines four phases of improvements, but future renovations are uncertain because local and federal funding for parks is growing more scarce, Corry said.

"So finding money for a project that's even this great is difficult," he said.