The 12th Avenue Stewardship Committee had another great meeting last night about the future James Court Park.
The 12th Avenue community applied for Opportunity Fund grant money to build the James Court woonerf adjacent to the park. We should hear back regarding this funding by Thanksgiving 2010. Parks and the community has decided to hold off on further design work/preparations for the James Court Park until we find out if we will be getting funding for the woonerf as well. Design work can them move forward in tandem for both projects (hopefully).
Previous design ideas for the Park from the past two community meetings were further refined.
• A low retaining wall was added on the east side of the park. This would hold the rain garden (which will be able to absorb all run-off from the paved park) and give the park less of a “sloping” feel since the ground slopes down to the east.
• The blue “pillow” in the middle of the park will be covered in that squishy playground material and provide various levels for sitting, playing, climbing, or performance space. It will range from 6”-30” high.
• The “cloud” art piece will feature stainless steel convex mirrors (various diameters from 24”-42”) and will be 15-18 feet off the ground.
• The paving material will be sandblasted concrete. This saves money by not using specialty pavers and will also be easier for Parks to maintain.
• Lights will be found throughout the park, crating an even lighting scheme. Lights will not be reflected up into the cloud to respect the neighbors and prevent any errant light from reflecting out into the street.
• The park will include stationary tables with movable chairs, likely attached with cables to the tables so that they don’t get stolen.
• One concern was related to pigeons enjoying the park a little too much and making a mess under the cloud feature. The design team is looking into anti-pigeon measures.
Overall, the community members in attendance were very pleased with the final designs and expressed excitement about moving forward. Be sure to put your thinking caps on and start brainstorming names for the new park!