A Dallas philanthropist is ready to move "full steam ahead" on building four new downtown parks after city voters approved a $1.05 billion bond package this month.

Robert Decherd, the former chairman of The Dallas Morning News' parent company, A.H. Belo Corporation, said in a meeting with The News' editorial board that all the parks should be completed within a few years.

But, he said, some roadblocks stand in the way of the park he had initially wanted to complete first. Carpenter Park is in "a holding pattern" because of a mess of city streets and Dallas Area Rapid Transit plans, Decherd said.

Decherd has quietly made headway on the other parks beyond the approval of the $35 million of taxpayer matching funds in the $262 million bond proposition. In September, he acquired a parking lot to build a park in the West End. He said his foundation is also making steady progress on plans to build Pacific Plaza at another city-owned surface parking lot on downtown's east side.

Pacific Plaza was not part of the bond package. Decherd had initially pushed last year for the park to be included, but offered to pay the full cost after a political battle with a private group that wanted to take control of the Pacific Plaza land and build an underground parking garage topped by a park.

The decision moved Pacific Plaza ahead of Carpenter Park in the queue.

The three other parks — Harwood Park, the West End park and Carpenter — will be built with public and private money. The Decherd Foundation and Decherd's Parks for Downtown Dallas have collectively assembled $46.7 million in assets, including the West End land and land that will become Harwood Park.

In the best-case scenario, Pacific Plaza would be finished in late 2019 and open in early 2020, Decherd said.

Timetables for the others will depend on when the city wants to start.

Assistant City Manager Majed Al-Ghafry said he's working on a master plan for executing the bond projects.

But he said the downtown parks are likely to be started soon. Al-Ghafry said Decherd's experience constructing Belo Garden is proof that they can get the job done on time and on budget.

The parks were among several bond projects that include private matching funds, and Al-Ghafry said he doesn't see navigating private and government demands as a challenge.

"I see this as an opportunity, actually," Al-Ghafry said. "Part of the deal is this organization has had an incredible amount of success. And they've demonstrated that. ... Frankly, they've put their money where their mouth is in the past."

1 / 8A conceptual rendering shows an aerial view of the location for a park in the West End. (Hargreaves Associates) 2 / 8A conceptual rendering showing an aerial view of the location for Pacific Plaza. The Belo Foundation announced an ambitious plan Thursday, Oct. 29, 2015 to realize a longstanding vision for downtown by creating 17 acres of new green space through the construction of four major parks. The plan calls for $70 million in private and public funding to build the parks within the next 10 years, with the Belo Foundation pledging $30 million toward the effort. The four parks Ã‘ Harwood Park, Carpenter Park, Pacific Plaza and West End Plaza Ã‘ were listed as high priorities in the 2013 update of the downtown parks master plan.(Hargreaves Associates) 3 / 8A conceptual rendering showing an aerial view of the location for Harwood Park. The Belo Foundation announced an ambitious plan Thursday, Oct. 29, 2015 to realize a longstanding vision for downtown by creating 17 acres of new green space through the construction of four major parks. The plan calls for $70 million in private and public funding to build the parks within the next 10 years, with the Belo Foundation pledging $30 million toward the effort. The four parks Ã‘ Harwood Park, Carpenter Park, Pacific Plaza and West End Plaza Ã‘ were listed as high priorities in the 2013 update of the downtown parks master plan.(Hargreaves Associates) 4 / 8A conceptual rendering showing a view of the location for Harwood Park, seen from Young Street looking north. The Belo Foundation announced an ambitious plan Thursday, Oct. 29, 2015 to realize a longstanding vision for downtown by creating 17 acres of new green space through the construction of four major parks. The plan calls for $70 million in private and public funding to build the parks within the next 10 years, with the Belo Foundation pledging $30 million toward the effort. The four parks Ã‘ Harwood Park, Carpenter Park, Pacific Plaza and West End Plaza Ã‘ were listed as high priorities in the 2013 update of the downtown parks master plan.(Hargreaves Associates) 5 / 8A conceptual rendering of the location for Carpenter Plaza (including the current location of Carpenter Park). This is the view from Live Oak Street. The Belo Foundation announced an ambitious plan Thursday, Oct. 29, 2015 to realize a longstanding vision for downtown by creating 17 acres of new green space through the construction of four major parks. The plan calls for $70 million in private and public funding to build the parks within the next 10 years, with the Belo Foundation pledging $30 million toward the effort. The four parks Ã‘ Harwood Park, Carpenter Park, Pacific Plaza and West End Plaza Ã‘ were listed as high priorities in the 2013 update of the downtown parks master plan.(Hargreaves Associates) 6 / 8A conceptual rendering of the location for Pacific Plaza. This is the view from St. Paul Street. The Belo Foundation announced an ambitious plan Thursday, Oct. 29, 2015 to realize a longstanding vision for downtown by creating 17 acres of new green space through the construction of four major parks. The plan calls for $70 million in private and public funding to build the parks within the next 10 years, with the Belo Foundation pledging $30 million toward the effort. The four parks Ã‘ Harwood Park, Carpenter Park, Pacific Plaza and West End Plaza Ã‘ were listed as high priorities in the 2013 update of the downtown parks master plan.(Hargreaves Associates) 7 / 8A conceptual rendering showing an aerial view of the location for Carpenter Plaza (including the current location of Carpenter Park). The Belo Foundation announced an ambitious plan Thursday, Oct. 29, 2015 to realize a longstanding vision for downtown by creating 17 acres of new green space through the construction of four major parks. The plan calls for $70 million in private and public funding to build the parks within the next 10 years, with the Belo Foundation pledging $30 million toward the effort. The four parks Ã‘ Harwood Park, Carpenter Park, Pacific Plaza and West End Plaza Ã‘ were listed as high priorities in the 2013 update of the downtown parks master plan.(Hargreaves Associates) 8 / 8A rendering of Parks for Downtown Dallas' plan for a new park at Pacific Plaza in Downtown Dallas.(Courtesy of Parks for Downtown Dallas)

Decherd said he'd ideally like to complete Carpenter Park within a year of Pacific Plaza's completion. He believes Harwood Park will take 18 months to two years after that. The West End park, he said, is "the wild card" because it's the smallest site and could conceivably be done simultaneously with others.

"It's going to be a step process," Decherd said. "Hopefully they're all done in that time frame."

But the parks have obstacles. Decherd needs to demolish a building at the Harwood Park site. And Carpenter Park, which received a $3 million gift from the Carpenter family, is caught in the middle of the debate over Interstate 345's future, the Pearl Street and Cesar Chavez Boulevard realignments and the planned DART subway.

The $1.2 billion subway, which the City Council insisted upon, could begin to come back up to surface level through a corner of the park. That way, the subway line won't be affected by any future city decision on whether to rebuild I-345 below grade or to just eliminate the stretch of freeway and replace it with a system of boulevards.

DART is also working with the city on the western boundary of the park and the Pearl Street realignment near the East Transfer Center.

Steve Salin, DART's vice president of capital planning, said he won't know all the details for another two years.

"There's a lot of choreography associated with how this will all fit together," he said. But, he added: "It will fit together. There's no doubt about that."

Dallas Public Works Assistant Director Tim Starr said the city is "patiently waiting on DART," but said the agency is expediting its work. Starr is hopeful the city will know enough to make plans to move forward in less than six months.

Decherd said he's in "a holding pattern" in the meantime, but is optimistic the city and DART will use "common sense" and make decisions that will allow the park to move forward quickly.

"This thing has been disrupted for seven years," he said. "I don't know about you, but if I were the Carpenter family, I'd be running low on patience. ... Let's just get this thing resolved so we can proceed."

Update: This post was revised at 6 p.m. to include comments from Tim Starr.