Park board presents updated plans for West Homewood, Patriot parks in final town hall meeting
The last of three town hall meetings to discuss planned projects at West Homewood and Patriot parks was held tonight. Parks board members and Geoff Clever from Davis Architects presented amendments based on public input from the first two meetings and an online survey.
A possible layout for the Patriot Park pool was shown. The pool would be located in the green space between the senior center and the park's walking path, with parking on the east side of the pool and a new access road from Oak Grove Road across from Hall Avenue. In addition to a pool building, the outdoor pool deck design included lap lanes, slides, a beach-style entry, diving area, splash pad, play structure, aquatic social areas and shade structures.
While the design is not a final plan for the pool, which the parks and recreation department hopes to have open by summer 2018, it does include many of the elements that survey respondents most favored. The total pool deck space is slightly smaller than the Central Park pool, but some of the amenities would be unique within the city. Plans for Patriot Park include planting new trees as buffers for Oakmoor Drive and Oak Grove Road, as well as improvements to the existing playground.
One of the primary concerns residents had was the elimination of wooded areas in West Homewood Park to make room for new athletic fields and a maintenance facility, which would reduce the barrier between the park and surrounding homes, as well as existing habitat for wildlife. Parks Board Chairman Chris Meeks had said on May 23 that this was an issue of concern for him, and tonight's meeting saw new plans that keep most of the trees in the area intact.
The newest plan relocates a sand volleyball court and parking lot, which were planned for the Mason property south of West Homewood Park, from a heavily-wooded area to the north part of the Mason property. The maintenance facility, which will include batting cages, wrestling mats and an artificial turf indoor field, will still be located on the property along with three soccer and multi-purpose fields, but much less of the woods next to it will be cut down. More landscape buffering also has been factored in on the east edge of the park.
In response to questions about water runoff and trash going into Shades Creek from the fields, Clever and Meeks said the design will include water collection and management plans. Parks Superintendent Berkley Squires said they have to keep a 25 to 30-foot buffer around the stream as well.
In the southeast corner of West Homewood Park, plans call for eight tennis courts and a gymnasium with basketball and volleyball courts. Since the last meeting on May 23, Clever said plans have been updated to move parking farther from residential areas, and bleachers were also added around one pair of tennis courts.
A walking trail winding around the athletic fields is still being discussed, along with a connecting path between West Homewood and Patriot parks. The distance is less than a mile, but the route between them is complicated by private properties where the city will either have to request an easement to use land or reroute the path.
“That’s still on our radar and we’re still looking at how best to do that,” Clever said.
Some initial construction work, such as filling in the West Homewood Pool, is expected to begin around the end of June. From there, work in West Homewood Park will proceed in phases over two years so athletic fields are available for use during their youth league seasons.
As this was the final public meeting, Meeks said residents should talk to their park board members or come to board meetings, the first Thursday of each month at the community center board room, to share their input on the projects.