March 2019 - Parks & Recreation - 48

T E M P E PA R K S

The Cloud, however, represents
just one of 30 park renovation projects completed by the city of Tempe
to date, with several more projects undergoing various stages of planning,
public input, design or construction.
In this next installment of our
parks transforming cities, towns and
communities series, Parks & Recreation highlights a few noteworthy
park projects in Tempe, Arizona.

(2) existing assets, (3) customer enhancements and (4) system expansion and new amenities.
" We have been very fortunate
that our mayor and city council
have made improving parks a priority - and even just addressing the
infrastructure that exists within our
park system, " says Craig Hayton,
parks manager for the city of Tempe.
" They've always been supportive. "

The Initial Plan

Broadening Its Focus

Tempe is a landlocked city that
stretches about 40 square miles and
features 40 neighborhood parks,
multiple community parks, sports
complexes, two preserves, two golf
courses and a spring training facility.
About two years ago, the Tempe
City Council approved the Parks
Capital Improvements Plan, which
allocated $32 million over a fiveyear period toward renovating its
city parks. What's more, project
funding was prioritized based on
four elements: (1) public health,

Although the city had initially earmarked $32 million toward revitalizing existing parks, the mayor and city
council were thinking bigger. Hayton
says those funds were more focused
on bringing Tempe's neighborhood
parks up to date. However, when the
city broadened its Parks Capital Improvements Plan budget to include
community services and public
works - areas that serve the city's
park system - it discovered it had a
much wider funding balance totaling
a little more than $60 million.

Tempe, Arizona's Selleh Park was the first
playground renovation project to receive full
rubber surfacing.

Parks & Recreation

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He explains that city officials understood that Tempe's park system
as a whole needed some updating,
because some of the infrastructure
had exceeded its useful lifespan.
" We're now looking at the entire
park system, not just some of the
deficiencies that we've identified
within the neighborhood parks,
which is where that $32 million
[figure] came from, " notes Hayton.
Thus, the city retooled its approach by embracing a strategy
that emphasizes asset-management-based improvements within
parks. Hayton says, " Rather than
taking our different 40-plus neighborhood parks and saying, 'We're
going to [concentrate on] two or
three projects a year,' and just go in
and redo an entire park, we actually are looking now at the systems
that exist within our park system. "
To help direct the decision-making
process on park projects not associated with health and safety or related
to the maintenance of existing amenities, city staff established a points
system that identifies a park's base
amenities by park size. Each park is
ranked by the number of points it receives - parks with fewer base amenities will take precedence over parks
that are better equipped. This system
is meant to create equity among all
parks throughout Tempe, ensuring
that park amenities remain consistent across the board. Base amenities
include:
* 25 trees per acre
* Playgrounds: central play
structure, individual components, shade, inclusive play
equipment and ADA surfacing
* Ramadas: covered picnic areas
* Furnishings: picnic tables,
benches, drinking fountains,
trash/recycling containers and
pet-bag dispensers
In addition to increasing the tree

March 2019 - Parks & Recreation

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