GREENFIELD — Have you been spending a lot of your summer days at Riley Park, or is there a feature local parks currently lack that you’d love to see?
The Greenfield Parks Department wants to hear from you as it plans the next phase of its Riley Park redesign. Staff members will be available today (Thursday, July 15) to hear people’s feedback.
Residents are encouraged to stop by the entrance of the Riley Park swimming pool, located directly across from the Patricia Elmore Center, to share their thoughts on the future of the park. Park staff will be on hand from 4-6 p.m. and plan to add an online survey in the future to solicit more comments.
Skye Mackenzie, assistant director of the Parks Department, said the city is hoping to do long-term planning for the future of Riley Park — though all plans will be contingent on whether funding, likely from grants, is available.
“This is going to be a multi-year process” probably lasting five to 10 years, Mackenzie said.
The park currently features five baseball diamonds that are no longer used by the Greenfield Youth Baseball Association. Mackenzie said the department is eyeing possible new uses for that space as the first step of the redesign and wants to ask the public which features they would most likely use.
“We want to gain an understanding of what the public sees as a priority for that area,” he said.
Mackenzie said part of the plan for the park’s future will include moving some of its features, including basketball courts and possibly the skate park area, out of the flood plain. Brandywine Creek, which runs through the park, is prone to flooding during heavy rain.
Those are some of the amenities that could be moved to the site of the baseball diamonds, he said.
Features that the Parks Department is considering adding in the future included a multipurpose field with artificial turf that could be used for various sports during all times of the year; and a cyclist track.
At the park with her three children on Wednesday, Jennifer Beyer said she’d like to see more playground equipment added, such as more swings. She said she frequently drives from the eastern part of the county to visit Riley Park.
“We come here at least once a week, if not more,” she said.
Colin Higgins was one of a handful of teenagers using the skate park on Thursday afternoon. He said the area, which he visits daily, could use major improvements.
“Bigger, more rails, less ruined ramps, just an update on the skate park,” he said of what changes he’d like to see.
The department plans to eventually divide the park into quadrants based on how they would be used and by what age group. A plan presented to the city council last year was created by PROS Consulting. Features proposed included one playground for 2- to 5-year-olds and one for 5- to 12-year-olds; a sports area aimed at teens and young adults; and an area focused on exercise and wellness for older adults. The design also proposed a sculpture or art piece located near the park’s entrance and a “natural water play” area that would make use of Brandywine Creek.
Also proposed was a trail that could eventually connect with other city parks.
“There’s a lot of opportunity for pedestrian parkways within your city because of Brandywine Creek,” Alyssa Prazeau, a PROS planner, said at the time. “I think that’s a very important factor while we’re looking at Riley, to make sure that we don’t lose sight of that fact and those connection possibilities.”
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Park staff will be on hand from 4-6 p.m. today at the entrance to the Riley Park swimming pool to gather input on what the public would like to see at the park as it is redesigned.
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