A Peek into the Park Planning Process Part 1

Picking a Property and Evaluating Assets –

Welcome back to another blog post! Over the next few weeks, we will be breaking down the different pieces of the park planning process. From choosing a property, identifying existing features, imagining a vision, and implementing a plan. The entire process is built upon a foundation of community involvement and participation, because the best park is one that best suits and represents its users. In this blog post, we’ll cover the first step of the process – picking a property and taking inventory of its assets. 

Picking a Property

CVPRD is currently looking into available properties for a new park. When it comes to deciding on a property, we’ll need your help! It is our goal to design and implement a community park that will be useful, available, and usable by the community members. You may have a preference as to the location of the park, or a desire for certain park features. This is valuable input that the commissioners at CVPRD would love to hear! If several people are in favor of a park with a playground, or walking paths, or places for sports – that will influence the decision of which property to choose. CVPRD would love to have residents express their park preferences, and everyone is always invited to the Park Planning Meetings that occur on the third Tuesday of every month at 5PM and regular meetings every 2nd Thursday at 5PM. You can visit our public meetings page at cv-prd.org to join. 

Evaluating Assets

Once a property has been picked, the next part of the process is identifying the existing features. For example, there may be a lot of trees on the property. CVPRD will want to have the community help to decide if all the trees should stay, or if some excavating will be necessary. The same goes for other kinds of plants and greenery, it will be essential to collaborate and plan the foundation for the park. If there are any large rocks, we’ll need to agree on if they should stay or go. During this process, it will be helpful to do a site visit of the property and create a list of all it’s existing assets. Then, in a collaborative meeting or through a community wide survey go down the list and decide whether to keep each one. Together, we can transform underutilized properties into vibrant community parks for everyone! The more participation we have during the entire park planning process, the better the park will be suited for Columbia Valley’s residents.