Parks, Trails & Recreation Master Plan

LIONS PARK CONCEPT PLAN Lions Park is already a host to a plethora of facilities that are loved and well-used by the community. In general, this concept plan intends to organize and curate the amenities in the park in ways that focus resources on amenities that can encourage more park use and increase revenues for established facilities. The Lions Park concept plan can be organized by the following strategies: » » Increase visibility and access to park facilities. Selectively removing problem specimen and trimming the overgrown evergreens blocking the visibility into SandVenture, people will be able to more easily see into the aquatics park and the overall health of the row of trees will be improved. A more comprehensive looped trail system that ties into the Vierling Greenway encourages trail users to walk through the park and explore the amenities. Signage for amenities in the park would greatly improve park use and let people know what types of things they can enjoy while visiting. » » Update tennis courts to a full pickleball facility. Removing the tennis courts and building 8 dedicated pickleball courts would serve to match modern trends in court sports. Adding a shade structure provides a comfort element to the facility, and additional parking spaces allow ease of access for more users. » » Add programming to areas of complimentary use. The fun-for-all playground is an innovative and thoughtful addition to Lions Park, and with a nearby restroom and picnic shelter, a few more amenities can converge here to provide a really lively and attractive portion of the park. A Miracle Field compliments the experience for users who may be drawn especially to the fun-for-all playground, and providing other types of play and exercise amenities to that area with a nature play pod and adult fitness pod would provide activities for people of all ages and abilities. The addition of the donated splash pad increases the accessible amenities and encourages another element of water play to the park. Because the splash pad was constructed over the sand volleyball court, that court has been re-located and improved as shown on the adjacent plan. Adding another hockey rink and future broomball rink to the hockey area would maintain

the attraction of ice hockey events in Lions Park. The youth building can serve as a warming house during the winter months, with the open lawn converted to a free skate area in the winter as well. In the summer, the open lawn adjacent to the youth building can serve as an adventure or learning space for youth programs that require the outdoors, such as archery, fire-building, and more. » » Renovate the youth building into a more modern and attractive event venue. There are issues with basement flooding in the current building, and the interior is not functional from an ADA perspective or from a modern aesthetic perspective. Opening up some walls in the building and modernizing some of the materials would make this a more attractive space for people looking for a special event venue. » » Re-visioning the additional programming at SandVenture. SandVenture itself is a well-loved facility, but could be expanded upon to provide a greater variety of aquatic experiences for users as well as bring in more revenue and activate programming at more times throughout the year. Adding rentable cabanas would provide space for parties and add another revenue option while elevating the experience for those users. There is space to add an additional water-slide type attraction behind the existing water slide, brining a more water-park type amenity to the facility. Renovating the “boathouse” to add a full-service food venue or restaurant would draw similar attraction as comparable local precedents, such as the Curling Center in Chaska. Adults can enjoy a drink on the restaurant patio, enjoy a leisurely sand volley game at the newly added sand volleyball court, or have a meal with their family while visiting Lions Park, providing a full day of experience for users. The restaurant could operate year-round, servicing people during hockey games, broomball games, disc golf tournaments, pickleball gatherings, miracle field games, or catering to events in the shelters or the youth building. » » Some of these updates would require the relocation of just a few disc golf baskets. It will be important to work with the disc golf community to learn what new configurations and upgrades to the overall course would be desirable. Using some of the open space behind the fire station would allow for easier relocation of some baskets.

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