Ideas to move the Hart-Patterson Track and Field Complex and build boardwalks along Waco Creek were a few of many floated at Waco’s second public meeting for a park next to the former Floyd Casey Stadium site.
Rising to the top of the priority list are a vibrant inclusive playground, public art and a strong Hispanic influence in the park, which will accompany Turner Brothers’ $100 million redevelopment of the 77-acre former stadium site across Clay Avenue.
The city has committed more than $20 million to the park project that will take in the Hart-Patterson Track and Field Complex, with $12.5 million slated in this year’s budget. City leaders, the parks and recreation department and representatives from Design Workshop, the city’s chosen design firm, came together at Tuesday’s meeting, as well as several residents.
“This is really where we took a lot of the values from the first meeting, we come back and we present a couple kind of visions, but they’re still very high-level,” Design Workshop landscape architect Conners Ladner said.
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Ladner said about 40 people attended the first meeting, and the city’s feedback survey received 370 responses. Responses that were most prevalent supported an inclusive playground, public art and Hispanic influence, Ladner said. The incorporation of colors and imaginative concepts to represent Hispanic influence has become a unique opportunity to drive a story and concept that isn’t found in every project, he said.
“It’s obviously a big park, so we have a lot of elements to design,” Ladner said. “… It’s not just a run-of-the-mill, cookie-cutter idea, but it’s something that’s going to be really kind of special to the local area.”
A couple of possible configurations for the park were shown, with one maintaining the Hart-Patterson track facility, built by Baylor University in the 1960s, in its original position bordering 32nd Street. The track in its current position would need to be removed and widened to allow for a football and soccer field within, with track and field elements placed throughout.
“It would need to be reconstructed, so there would be a cost to that versus just leaving it where it is today where it can’t meet all the programming needs that it should have,” Ladner said. “It just wasn’t built to the appropriate size for that.”
The old bleachers would be relocated with 2,500 new seats and amenities added.
In another diagram the track is oriented to abut Waco Creek and provide better shade on the field, while both placements make room for sports fields. The track upgrades would allow for more year-round programming, offering several additional types of activities compared to what it is currently able to facilitate.
The track and field project may not be included in phase one, Ladner said. The city council has set aside money that could go toward community elements, like lawn space, the inclusive playground, parking, splash pads and plazas, but phasing is still up for discussion, he said.
“Right now, if you’re on the north side of that track and field you’re getting blasted with the sun all day, and even if we do a beautiful structural pavilion, which has a cost, it would help, but it won’t solve all the issues. … That’s a much bigger effort,” Ladner said. “And so our focus, for sure, in phase one will be about getting the community what they need from a park standpoint. Then phase two, longer term, will be the idea of how can we kind of rebuild or enhance the track and field.”
Both diagrams maintain a baseball field near Bell’s Hill Park and show a skate park, water play area, a 12-foot-wide hike and bike trail, picnic and barbecue areas, sport courts and a boardwalk, which could sit at a couple of different points along Waco Creek. The project could restore and renovate around the waterway, allowing park guests to interact in a safe way without building a lake or requiring years of permitting, Ladner said, referring to a small lake previously floated as an idea for the park.
“We can get people back down in the creek in a safe way through a series of boardwalks that can be flooded over time, using limestone bands to kind of create a safe environment to get down, or just other ways to slow that water as it continues into the watershed,” he said.
A large point of focus for the meeting was the inclusive playground, shown either along Waco Creek at the back of the site or along Clay Avenue in diagrams. Lots were strategically placed in both schemes to provide parking close to the inclusive playground.
Design Workshop project manager Margarita Padilla said multiple people on the design and architectural teams are Latin American themselves, offering a wide range of cultures and firsthand knowledge. One idea board showed ideas of patterns, art pieces, architecture and colors from several Hispanic cultures that could play into the overall theme of the park and playground.
A drawing depicted children using mobility devices interacting with pink, orange and yellow mask-like shapes on the playground, and others climbing or in them or playing with musical equipment. The drawing also includes alebrijes, or whimsical mythological animals central to Mexico, incorporated into park elements.
A rendering prepared by Design Workshop shows concepts under consideration for a new park next to the former Floyd Casey Stadium site.
A roughly sketched overhead diagram of the playground showed a range of ideas with varying sensory experiences, challenge levels and age ranges. Ideas pitched included a performance stage, musical installments, a tree house, sand pit, accessible swings and slides and several other elements.
The same colors and architectural influences used in the inclusive playground will be spread throughout the park, incorporated into pavilions, restrooms and other structures.
Overall, diagrams of the park showed more than 20 acres of natural area, over 20 acres of programmed area, about 5 miles of major and minor trails and over 800 parking spaces. Ladner said feedback from the second meeting will merge the two concepts as designers think of options to keep the project within budget.
