A nod from Burlington’s city council proved a walk in the proverbial park for a long-term proposal to enhance one of the city’s oldest and most popular recreational venues.
The council ultimately gave its unanimous nod to this new master plan for City Park, which envisions a host of improvements to this facility over the next two to three decades, ranging from additional parking to an expansion of the park’s signature train ride.
This plan, which received the council’s approval on Tuesday, had been pieced together under the tutelage of Graham Smith, a consultant with Site Collaborative who was on hand that evening to present his work to the city’s elected leaders.
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Smith told the council’s members that the plan he has crafted is meant to be implemented in bits and pieces over the course of the next 20 to 30 years.
“It’s a guidebook; it’s a road map; it’s a way to move forward,” he went on to add. “With that, there were a lot of identifying future challenges and opportunities. What does the site give us? What kinds of challenges and opportunities are there?”
Among its recommendations to the city’s leaders, the master plan suggests an extension of the park’s electric train ride, the addition of up to 215 parking spaces, and the relocation of the park’s ticket office and concession stands to more easily accessible spots. In the case of concessions, the plan recommends rehousing this function within a pergola that had once housed the park’s historic Dentzel Carousel.
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Another noteworthy suggestion that appears in the plan is the proposed reopening of Overbrook Drive to through traffic. This road, which effectively bisects the park’s grounds, is currently gated on either side of a central roundabout, which prevents drivers from reaching attractions like the Maynard Aquatic Center and the city’s new pickleball complex if they approach them from the wrong side of Overbrook Drive.
By reopening this road, drivers will no longer have to drive back out to one of the thoroughfares that skirt the perimeter of City Park. This change would make it easier to navigate the park, although Smith has also recommended measures like utilizing the existing roundabout to prevent people from hurtling down this roadway once it reopens.
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Although the council gave its imprimatur to Smith’s proposed master plan, its members did ask the consultant to clarify a number of recommendations that have apparently caused consternation for some park goers. These areas of concern include a proposal to repurpose four ball fields that lie on grounds of a decommissioned landfill within City Park’s footprint.
Smith has urged the city to find other uses for these ball fields since the activities they currently host demand the periodic replacement of soil due to subterranean shifts. Mayor Jim Butler observed that the city will need to find other sites for these four ball fields in light of the popularity of softball among area residents.
“We have a vibrant program and a need for those fields,” he explained before Tuesday’s vote. “So, they’re going to be done somewhere else.”
Butler also acknowledged that a potential wild card for the new master plan will be the YMCA center that stands next to the park’s primary entrance off of South Main Street.
The mayor said that the YMCA’s governing board is presently wresting with a decision to either renovate or relocate this facility – the results of which, he admitted, will have enormous repercussions on the neighboring park. Butler added that the YMCA’s leaders have sent the city a letter asking to be read into the ongoing discussions about a proposed sports-plex that the city’s voters approved as part of a multimillion-dollar bond package last year.
Another proposal that drew some attention on Tuesday was the potential relocation of a “bark park” that’s now situated next to the Y. Councilmember Dejuana Bigelow conceded that she has heard from some residents who are concerned about the dog park’s future location. Smith went on to elaborate that his own recommendation is to move this attraction to a shady area near Overbrook Drive in order to keep it within City Park’s grounds.
Bigelow added that the site of the dog park isn’t the only thing that has preoccupied some of the residents who’ve contacted her about the park’s master plan.
“What I’m hearing,” she said, “is [concerns about] the ball fields, the dog park, and not having a chance to digest all the information.”
“Well, you have 30 years,” Butler piped up in response to Bigelow’s final point.
The council went on to adopt the new master plan in a 5-to-0 vote.
