Neighbors offer feedback on the final site plan presentation at the May RHIC community meeting (5/1/12)
When we last checked on the South Whitelock park project, we were filling in the tree wells with flowers and still confirming the final site plan. Since then, we’ve put together more detailed sketches of the future park space, met a few times to go over final tweaks, presented a final site design at the May RHIC community meeting, and nearly completed removing the perimeter fence along the back alley. Next up: grading and leveling the site!
Residents on the Design Team discuss the site plan (4/10/12)
One of the questions we’ve discussed the most is how we should design the park entrances to make sure that they are not only welcoming, but also consistent with the naturally occurring walking paths that people already use inside the site. At the same time, we want to create a water catching system so that the natural flow of storm water running down Whitelock St. can be easily absorbed.
Sketch showing the east side of the park running along Brookfield Ave:
Sketch showing proposed paths for people and water:
The only way to really test out the design is to walk the site itself. Residents working on the design team recently met on Whitelock St. to stake out some of the proposed features, including a central overflow rainwater-fountain, to see how they would look. We also checked whether the proposed pathways to were wide enough for easy passage. Finally, we removed the remaining fence along the south and west sides of the site so that we can start grading the entire site.
Design Team meeting at the Farm (4/19/12)
Residents measure the distance of a proposed walkway linking the bus stop to the corner (4/19/12)
Residents remove the fence along the southern edge of the site (5/5/12)
It has now been approximately 12 months since we started our community design process, and we are excited to share the most up-to-date site plan. We have incorporated as many specific suggestions and requests by residents as possible, including an over-flow rain water fountain, seating areas featuring fruit trees, a more convenient and beautiful bus stop waiting area/shelter, a sculpture installation site, and much more.
Most recent site plan:
Teddy, this is great. Thanks for the update and for consistently keeping up apprised of progress! Great job.