Dallas City Council could decide whether Fair Park’s long-promised community park gets a new contract next week, allowing millions to go toward the project, which for months has sat in limbo.
Fair Park First, a nonprofit with more than $30 million raised for the park, has faced scrutiny at City Hall. It’s seeking permission to build the community space at the city-owned fairgrounds, a decision that comes as a deadline nears for millions in federal grant funding.
City agendas show Fair Park First’s contract will first be considered at a special-called committee meeting Tuesday. It is expected to go before the full City Council on Wednesday.
The discussion arrives about a month after the City Council took oversight of the contract process from the Park Board amid tensions over delays in the process. South Dallas community leaders have pressed city officials to proceed with the project.
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“The last few weeks of this process has been treated with a level of thoroughness that I am incredibly proud of,” said council member Adam Bazaldua, who represents the park’s district. “Though all parties did not agree on the road to get there, we certainly all agree on the goal. I’m hopeful that the outcome will do right by South Dallas. It’s time promises be kept.”
Fair Park First has faced scrutiny since 2024, after nearly $6 million in misspent donor funds were disclosed. Last year, the city cut ties with the nonprofit and Oak View Group, Fair Park’s venue manager. This left the community park’s future in question.
Fair Park First leaders have said they tightened governance since the misspent funds were disclosed. The city’s Park Board president tasked a group of community leaders with vetting Fair Park First, and the group found that the nonprofit had substantial planning and fundraising efforts but lacked clarity around how the park would be delivered, documents show.
“The Park Board has done its part,” Arun Agarwal, Park Board president, said in a statement. “I hope now, the council takes notice of the unanswered questions and puts watertight controls and governance in place.”
The group’s findings, advisory in nature, said City Council should employ strong guardrails in a contract to build the park. Opinions differed on how prepared Fair Park First was to advance the project.
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Jason Brown, Fair Park First’s board chair, said the design and development phase for the park is complete, but there hasn’t been additional planning amid the uncertainty.
“We paused spending money toward advancing to the next phase,” Brown said.“We paused activity until we knew our fate.”
Following an agreement from the city, the nonprofit would work on construction documents, Brown said, adding that this phase would go beyond vision, including more detailed plans and a roadmap for construction.
A new agreement would come just in time for deadlines as early as March 10 to draw federal and state funding, and it would include several conditions.
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The city would own improvements made at the fairground, according to a briefing presentation. Fair Park First would be responsible for all permits and held to a set of deadlines in the park’s creation. The nonprofit would give briefings to City Council, and the city may appoint a nonvoting member to Fair Park First’s board for financial oversight, according to documents. Additionally, Fair Park First would allow a city audit.
After the community park is fully funded, the nonprofit could fundraise for other Fair Park facilities.
City Council’s committee on parks, trails, and the environment is expected to hear Fair Park First’s briefing in its special-called meeting Tuesday. Council member Kathy Stewart, who chairs the committee, said she was looking forward to the discussion, adding that “the guidance from the Task Force has given us a framework for moving forward.”
The community park has been years in the making, part of a decades-long effort to repair damage after the city razed homes to build parking lots at Fair Park.
Following community input, the roughly 10-acre green space was planned near Exposition and South Fitzhugh avenues. It’s expected to include a host of amenities, with a projected cost of just over $40 million, documents show.
Construction on the community park has been planned to start as early as August, with a goal of completion in late 2027.
Staff writer Devyani Chhetri contributed to this report.
This reporting is part of the Future of North Texas, a community-funded journalism initiative supported by the Commit Partnership, Communities Foundation of Texas, The Dallas Foundation, the Dallas Mavericks, the Dallas Regional Chamber, Deedie Rose, Lisa and Charles Siegel, the McCune-Losinger Family Fund, The Meadows Foundation, the Perot Foundation, the United Way of Metropolitan Dallas and the University of Texas at Dallas. The News retains full editorial control of this coverage.