If all goes according to plan, Columbus and Lowndes County residents could be enjoying a new soccer park by next fall, officials said at a public hearing Monday night.
The park, to be located on 70 acres in the Burns Bottom area and include open green spaces, gathering spaces, championship soccer fields and more, will be “sustainable because it balances social, environmental and economic opportunities to meet the needs of people now and in the future,” said Neel-Schaffer Inc. Engineer Randy Meador. “This new park is a project to be proud of.”
Meador, City Engineer Kevin Stafford and landscape architect Ed Blake of The Design Studio in Hattiesburg presented preliminary plans for the park and asked for public comment after a hearing in the Columbus Municipal Complex.
Showing slides of previous projects completed in other areas, Meador and Blake presented renderings of different areas of the park, which Meador said focused on “five ideas” of “connectivity, sports, nature, community and economics.”
“This park is part of a very important urban fabric,” Meador said, noting plans include connecting the park to the Columbus Riverwalk and The Hitching Lot Farmers” Market and its location also is relevant to the Trotter Convention Center, Propst Park and other community assets. “Connectivity makes it a special place.”
With championship soccer fields, the park will emphasize both “organized competitive sports and sports that are very informal,” Meador continued, noting the design will feature “plenty of open space.”
Because “nature has a story to tell,” the park heavily will feature walkways to provide “landscape journeys of discovery,” Blake said, noting designers also have a chance to “create additional wetlands along Moore”s Creek as habitats for wildlife and irrigation (for the soccer fields).”
“We want to get folks in touch with the natural world in a low-impact kind of way,” he continued, referring to the park as a “real stunning place.” “We”ll make a very pleasant place to stroll through and spend times with family.”
“Connectivity is important in the city of Columbus,” Meador said, citing downtown storefront posters of events at the farmers” market and riverwalk as examples. “(The park will be an) opportunity to connect special places of the environment to other places of the city.”
The park will be “linked into the neighborhood it surrounds,” Blake added, and will have an “urban feel.”
“We believe this park is one of those things you will be doing to promote economic prosperity,” Meador said, envisioning visitors for soccer tournaments staying in local bed-and-breakfasts, shopping in downtown and dining in local restaurants. “This park can actually be a recruiting tool for you.
“Because Columbus is a place where people want to be, this park and other things is going to cause people to want to live here,” he continued. “It”s a proven fact places like this attract entrepreneurs who want to be part of the community.”
The presentation focused on seven design elements: championship soccer fields, recreational fields, The Gathering Place, a nature park, activity centers, a Moore”s Creek corridor and community connections.
Championship, recreational fields
“The emphasis is to host statewide tournaments and professional (high school and other) soccer matches,” said Meador, noting the fields are proposed to parallel the street, but will be constructed in an elevation lower than the street, similar to the way the Magnolia Bowl was carved out of a hillside, to create natural wide, grassy “bleachers or terrace-style” seating to view the games.
The designers also envisioned The Hitching Lot Farmers” Market, which would be adjacent to the fields, as a “series of shops tied into the urban fabric of the downtown area.”
“It would not be unusual for a family, between games, to walk three blocks to shop at the farmers” market or have lunch at a restaurant on Main Street,” Meador said, adding sidewalks would provide “direct connectivity” to nearby neighborhoods, and the fields also would feature pavilions with picnic shelters and be a “catalyst for other development.”
Recreational fields would be “more like fields in the woods,” divided from the championship fields by Moore”s Creek, Meador noted.
“They have a separate identity, separate character,” he said of the recreational fields.
The Gathering Place
Planned for an area in the corner of the intersection of Third Street North and Seventh Avenue North, The Gathering Place would be a “multi-purpose play field,” with designated areas for pre-school children and older children to play, as well as an “open recreation” area.
The place would be perfect for “Sunday afternoon Frisbee games,” picnics, family and class reunions and a multitude of other uses, he added, noting it also would boast an “outdoor cooking center” and be “uniquely situated,” overlooking Moore”s Creek and a planned wildflower meadow.
The space also will feature open-air pavilions, restrooms, and areas for maps of park trailways.
A non-leash dog park also is under consideration for the soccer park, as well as an archery range and a Frisbee golf course.
Moore”s Creek Corridor
“We don”t see Moore”s Creek as a liability for this project; we see it as an asset,” Meador said, noting the soccer park also could include boardwalks over swampy areas for a “unique experience.”
Designers also “created an opportunity” for a “grade-control structure” or waterfall over Moore”s Creek, with a pedestrian bridge, to protect against erosion.
Community connections
“There”s no question the riverwalk has been a great success to the community,” Meador said, explaining the soccer park would connect to the Columbus Riverwalk under the Highway 182 bridge. “There needs to be a connection to the riverwalk.”
The park could feature a “regional trail system,” he added.
“There”s a real emphasis on putting sidewalks in on streets,” Blake said of connecting the park to local neighborhoods. “Parks in cities today are important development tools.”
The next step in the park planning process is to build detailed survey maps and three-dimensional models.
Subsequently, a pathway system will be overlaid onto the models, then a site map, which could be used for tour guide maps and pamphlets, would be constructed, also giving names to areas of the park.
“We think it”s going to create an opportunity we haven”t seen before,” Meador said of the soccer park. “We believe it will make a difference in this community.”
Stafford reported a design will be finished by fall and officials expect to have a contractor by January.
Grass will be planted on the soccer fields by early summer 2011, and the first games likely will be held on the fields by the fall of 2011, Stafford said.
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