DALLAS — As the threat of severe storms and high winds continues across North Texas, the City of Dallas is looking at safety around some of its athletics fields.
The City of Dallas Park and Recreation Department announced it will be inspecting light poles in and around sports fields at some of its public parks. The move comes, in part, after high winds knocked down one of the light poles at JC Phelps Park in early March.
“Upon inspection, we went and looked at that pole and basically found that we had some internal rusting of the pole, which degraded the structural integrity of the pole,” said Chris Turner-Noteware, assistant director of Dallas Parks and Recreation Department’s Planning, Design and Construction Division.
Staff with Dallas Parks and Recreation say the department isn’t taking any chances when it comes to high winds, equipment conditions and the public’s safety around its sports fields and facilities.
“As a proactive measure we are going to go ahead and inspect all of the light poles that are 30 years and above,” Turner-Noteware added.
Dallas Parks and Recreation has contractors inspecting the light poles in and around the athletics fields at 15 parks across the city. The parks include Norbuck, Fretz, Crawford Memorial, Kleberg/Rylie, Kiest, Churchill, Crown, J.J. Craft, Samuell Garland, Samuell Grand, John C. Phelps, Cummings, Winfrey Point, Campbell Green and Sargent. The team will determine if any poles need to be replaced.
Turner-Noteware said if there are signs of structural degradation, the light poles will be taken down.
“We will be watching the National Weather Service, and if we have any wind advisories with sustained winds, we will be taking fields out of play as well,” Turner-Noteware said.
Leagues that regularly use the city’s athletic fields have been advised about the inspections. Parks and Recreation staff is working with those groups to address scheduling and options.
“The Parks department is just being proactive, to make sure we don’t have any safety measures or anyone getting injured by a potential falling pole or anything of that nature,” Turner-Noteware said.