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Eddy County seeks watering source for Happy Valley Park

Jason Burns, Eddy County's director of public works, on July 13, 2022 at the Happy Valley Volunteer Fire Station. Burns shared how the County hoped to rehabilitate the public park in Happy Valley during a public meeting meant to solicit public opinion on the park design.

Lack of a water supplier did not deter Eddy County from moving forward with plans to rehabilitate a nearly 70-year-old park north of Carlsbad, said Public Works Director Jason Burns.

He said watering the Happy Valley Park could create additional strain to the supply for users of the Happy Valley Water Cooperative. Burns said use of drinking water for commercial and recreational purposes was not an option as Eddy County planned to improve the park in 2023.

“If it’s a hotter year people use more water relatively. Same thing with the park. The park takes a lot more water than what you would expect,” Burns said.

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Heath Willingham, president of the Happy Valley Water Cooperative board of directors, said Eddy County met all rules and requirements set by the board should it choose to use its water allotment for that purpose.

“They’re still a paying customer,” Willingham said.

Willingham said the county had not communicated with the Happy Valley Cooperative regarding watering plans for the park.

Jeff Stuart of MRWM Landscape Architects presents the proposed master plan for rehabilitation of the Happy Valley public Park at a public meeting called by Eddy County held at the Happy Valley Volunteer Fire Department July 13, 2022.

“(Happy Valley) water is allotted to the park, they just haven’t been using it,” he said.

Burns said Eddy County sought other options, including use of City of Carlsbad water and water from a private supplier.

“It’s been a challenge. We’ve identified a few sources that we’re looking into,” Burns said.

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Members of the public share their vision of what the Happy Valley public park should look like during a public meeting called by Eddy County officials at the Happy Valley Volunteer Fire Department July 13, 2022.

While the county waits to resolve the issue of water, Burns said demolishing certain portions of the park and cleaning up some of the playing surfaces could start in four to six weeks.

“We’ve already said we need to do something. We’re going to kind of go through a design-build approach with this and start working on it,” he said. “As we design it (and) kind of build it.”