GARLAND — Central Park is fraught with political landmines. The wreckage includes a National Guard armory and a couple of City Council careers.

Meanwhile, Garland is about the only city of its size with neither a dog park or skate park. And Central Park is the city's choice as the best fit.

"We're so far behind neighboring cities," council member Robert John Smith said Thursday. "These are basic amenities you expect a city our size to have."

So, Smith is daring to revisit the subject of heated public debate that led to a controversial 6-3 vote last October to make room for the dog and skate parks by removing the armory's main building.

On Wednesday night, Smith presented a revised map of park uses to the Garland Parks and Recreation Board and won approval of the map.

"It's a mea culpa moment," Smith, himself a former member of the board, told its council-appointed members. "How are we going to fix this and move forward?"

Mayor Douglas Athas resigned after October's vote, saying that due to a broken process, residents and the city park board didn't have a say before the council decided what to do with the park. A recall of the council member whose district includes the surrounding neighborhood followed.

Smith has worked to make peace with the neighbors. He suggests moving the dog and skate parks 150 feet from homes and adding a masonry fence to buffer noise. The Embree Neighborhood Association, next to the park, is also seeking speed bumps, security lighting and landscaping.

Under the plan, the former armory site would become parking for the dog park, sparing the neighboring baseball field and creating distance between the dogs and neighbors. The skate facility would move to the west side of Central Park, closer to the recreation center and staff who could keep an eye on the place and lock it up after hours.

In the audience Wednesday were Embree residents, the president of the Little League that has called the park home for 60 years, and the heir apparent to the neighborhood council seat. All had seen the plan before.

"They've answered all the questions," said Darryl Quigley, whose home backs up to the park and who, in October, was among the many who told the council they had been blindsided by the plan to bring dogs and skaters to their back doors. "I'm glad something can be put out there that can be used."

If the council approves the site changes, the parks department will hire a design consultant. Then, plans would be vetted with public meetings and the park board would make a recommendation before a council vote.

Then, thanks to dog lovers, there could be reason other than political landmines to watch your step at Central Park.

"I could care less about the politics," said Smith, elected last May and, at 37, the youngest member of the City Council. "It's just patience, realizing what's gone wrong and trying to do what's right."