stream design, LLC 3330 larimer st. #1B denver, co 80205 (p)720.663.7352 www.streamlanddesign.com Meeting Notes Project: Westwood Park Meeting Date: May 22, 2012 Re: Public Meeting #3 Location: Cornerstone Baptist Church Date Issued: June 7, 2012 Compiled By: Paul Thomas Present: See attached sign-in list for meeting attendees. Denver Parks Staff: Nicole Stahly, Greg Cieciek; LiveWell Westwood: Norma Brambilia, Jose Esparza & Rachel Cleaves Stream Design: Jess Clark, Paul Thomas Topics Discussed: 1. General: The meeting was held to present the "final" master plan layout, and the design concepts and themes that will go into the detailing of the park. The meeting was held in English, with bi-lingual (English-Spanish) graphic presentation materials, and with simultaneous Spanish translation of the proceedings. The meeting was kicked off by Nicole Stahly of Denver Parks and Recreation ("DPR"), who described where we are in the project process, and gave the status of the grant funding (won $350K!) Nicole mentioned that this would be the last meeting were the attendees would be asked to provide feedback to help direct the design process, and that a final meeting would be held that would be more of a "unveiling" of the final design, and to provide information on the construction process. 2. Paul Thomas of Stream Design discussed the new plan, which is a combination of the two concepts preferred by the attendees at the last public meeting. In terms of park organization, the playground remains along Nevada Place on the south, the basketball/skate area is on the west side along Osceola St., and the main picnic area is on the east side near Newton St. The plan retains a slope of about 8 vertical feet between the upper level with the playground / water play area, with the playing field below on the lower level. 3. Jesse Clark of Stream Design presented design inspirations and design ideas for the park, which include the ideas of the "Four Winds", and an abstraction of a Native American medicine wheel form. Animals inspired by the Four Winds legends would be used to animate the park spaces, including: An eagle at the playground / park entry: The proposed eagle would be a chrome, life sized sculpture that would appear to soar over the playground, and would be mounted out of reach of children and adults; A bear in the young children's play area: A bear bas-relief sculpture would be incorporated into the wall that is planned between the playground and Nevada Place. The sculpture would appear to be a bear looking out of a cave in the wall to the playground. The sculpture could include cubs to make it appeal to the children playing in the playground.
Turtles would be placed at the ends of the four "spokes" of the medicine wheel paving area that would be the organizing element for the water play area. The turtles would be large, concrete sculptures, and would be climbable / sitable. Buffalos would appear to roam out on the "prairie" (grassy area) of the site. The buffalo would actually be large stone benches with steel cut-out backs in the shape of a buffalo silhouette. 4. After the presentations, attendees were invited to review the presentation boards up close and have any of their questions addressed by project staff. The meeting reconvened for a final group discussion, where attendees could voice their opinions and ask further questions in a group setting. Some of the questions/comments received included: "We need a restroom." A number of people voiced this opinion. Nicole with Denver Parks mentioned that the park is too small, and the budget too limited to be able to provide a restroom, which can cost as much as half a million dollars. As a matter of policy, Denver Parks only puts restrooms in the larger Community and Regional Parks, and not in small neighborhood parks like this one. There is also an issue about problematic/dangerous behavior in and around restrooms. Often there is a zone around a restroom that other park users avoid due to the possibilities of people hiding in them, etc. At Westwood the park is so small already that a restroom would potentially impact other uses and activity areas in a negative way. The possibility of a san-o-let, instead of a restroom, was mentioned by some attendees. While these alleviate some of the cost issues of plumbed restrooms, there is still the problem of nefarious behavior in and around the san-o-lets. One attendee who lived adjacent to the park voiced her opinion against restroom or san-o-lets, saying that it seemed like it was unnecessary in a neighborhood park, and that people could probably use restroom facilities at their homes instead. It was decided that the park design would include a location for a future san-o-let, so that if it was determined that this was a necessity, it could be added easily. "Why use a Native American theme, when most of the neighborhood was Hispanic?" Why spend project money on animal related art pieces? Wouldn't it be better to use it for more play equipment? Or maybe we could have play elements that incorporated the animal theme (like a bear slide). " I like the animals, and think it animates the park and would make it an exciting place to be." "The level of Native American theming might be "a little heavy handed." "I like the eagle sculpture." "I like the idea of the four winds." "Can we have local artists paint a mural on the wall along Alameda?" The general consensus among attendees of the meeting was that the park design was moving in a positive and satisfactory direction. The main "dislikes" that people had, voiced by several of the attendees, were about the lack of a restroom (discussed above), and that the play areas seemed too limited, and should be bigger and contain more play elements. It was suggested that instead of spending project budget on items like eagle sculptures, and other "artistic" elements intended to carry the four winds theme, more money could be directed towards additional play elements. The design team explained that the primary limiting factor for the play areas was not necessarily money, but rather space. Westwood Neighborhood Park Meeting Notes Stream Design, LLC 2
The park is extremely space-limited due to the desire of the neighborhood to have a very full range of activities and facilities, including soccer, basketball, a playground, water play, a loop walking trail, sledding, and picnicking. In addition, the slopes and walls necessary to take up the 21 feet of elevation change from the southwest corner to the northeast corner greatly reduce the usable space in the park for elements like playgrounds and playing fields. It should be noted that at 3 to 4 meeting attendees disagreed with the sentiment to eliminate the artistic elements, and voiced support for them, saying that they provided play value and identity to the park by inspiring children's imaginations, and were a good complement to the playground structures. In terms of the design themes that were introduced, including the "medicine wheel," the various animals, and the "four winds", there was discussion about how the park is not going to be literal interpretation or memorial to any specific symbols or rituals, but rather that these were just design inspirations that would help the designers to develop some interesting details for the park that would hopefully contribute to timeless, abstract and subtle overall themes of diversity, history and neighborhood identity. Regarding the mural request, Councilman Paul Lopez said that he would like the team to wait on including any murals as part of this project, as there were efforts afoot by his office and the community to develop a unified "super mural" along the numerous blocks of Alameda with the same retaining wall treatment. He did request that whatever treatment was proposed for the Alameda retaining wall take into account the probability of a mural being painted on its surface in the future. 5. Councilman Lopez also spoke to the question of "Why use a Native American theme?". He voiced the opinion that the ideas of the "Four Winds" and the medicine wheels are global symbols of diversity and speak to the "four corners of the world", and are relevant to Westwood, which has many people from different countries and ethnic groups. While very supportive of the park design concepts developed by the project team, he did suggest that the design team meet with some of the tribal elders associated with the Indian Center located in the neighborhood to make sure that the images and concepts being proposed were perceived as respectful by the Native American community. 6. The meeting was adjourned. Attendees were reminded about a final "informational" meeting would be held after the final design was substantially complete, possibly within several months. Stream Design believes this report accurately reflects what transpired at the meeting. Please provide comment to the appropriate project manager if you have a different understanding of what occurred or would like to add specifics or additional information. Notification should be made within 5 working days of issuing this report, after which, it is assumed that all parties agree that this report is accurate. Westwood Neighborhood Park Meeting Notes Stream Design, LLC 3
ALAMEDA AVENUE PLANTING BEDS Cama de plantado IMPROVED EXIST. WALL Pared existente con mehoras HILL / SLOPE Cerro /Pendiente FOUR WINDS WATER PLAY Cuatro Vientos Juego de agua NEWTON STREET COURT / SKATE AREA Area de cancha / patineta OSCEOLA STRE ET STEPS TO BUS STOP Escaleras hasta la parada de autobús BUFFALO BENCHES Banco de parque- Buffalo PICNIC AREAS Zonas de picnic PLAYING FIELD Campo de juego WALKING PATH Camino para caminar PICNIC AREA WITH SHADE SHELTER Zona de picnic con un cobijo de sombra WALL w/ BEAR DEN ARTWORK BETWEEN PLAY AND STREET Pared con la guarida del oso arte entre las zonas de juegos y la calle PLAY AREAS Zonas de juegos PLANTING BEDS Cama de plantado NEVADA PLACE Westwood / Barnum Neighborhood Park WESTWOOD WALK & WALL Pasarela y pared de Westwood Master Plan
GAME & SKATE AREA Zona de cancha e patineta BUFFALO BENCH Banco de Parque Buffalo EAGLE S NEST PLAY STRUCTURE CONCEPT El Nido del Aguila Estrutura de Juego (Conceto de Diseno) WESTWOOD WALK & WALL Pasarela y pared de Westwood BEAR DEN CONCEPT La guarida del Oso / Concepto de Diseno Westwood / Barnum Neighborhood Park Vignettes FOUR WINDS WATER PLAY AREA Juego de Aqua Cuatro Vientos
PLAY AREAS AGES 2-5 Zona de Juegos Annos 2-5: PLAY AREAS AGES 6-12 Zona de Juegos Annos 6-12: OR WATER PLAY Juego de agua DESIGN INSPIRATION Inspiración para el diseño MEDICINE WHEEL / 4 WINDS Medicine Wheel / Cuatro Vientos EAGLE El Aguila Westwood / Barnum Neighborhood Park BEAR El Oso Images BUFFALO El Buffalo TURTLE La Tortuga COMMUNITY / DIVERSITY Communidad / Diversidad