Preliminary plans for a soccer complex proposed for the Burns Bottom area are being refined, in anticipation of a May 3 public hearing on the park, which officials say will be a full recreational asset, with opportunities for much more than soccer.
Engineers from Neel-Schaffer, Inc. and personnel from The Landscape Studio, in Hattiesburg, Wednesday spent the day walking in the Burns Bottom area and refining preliminary designs for the soccer complex, which has been likened to a downtown park.
“We”re very pleased with the progress on the plans,” said Randy Meador, an engineer with Neel-Schaffer. “We are heading toward getting a refined concept design. We”re also collecting a whole lot of information on the site, so we can take that information and apply it to the design.”
A design proposal will be presented to the Columbus City Council and Lowndes County Board of Supervisors on May 3, followed by a public hearing at 5:30 p.m. at the Municipal Complex.
“We”ll have diagrams, schematics and renderings showing the features of the park and the design elements,” Meador said of the public hearing, which offers a chance for public input and comment.
The 70-acre site, which will be called Tan Yard Park, likely will include nature trails and green spaces with pavilions for family and class reunions, among other things, in addition to soccer fields.
“The one thing to remember, the one thing that”s real important about the site, is it”s more than soccer fields,” Meador stressed. “We have some design elements we”ll be showing in May that show recreational features, including neighborhood-type parks with culture-purpose play fields, environmental centers where we focus on the natural features of the site with trails, and interpretative sites.
“One of the biggest things we see with the park is connectivity with the surrounding places,” he continued. “For example, we have a feature we”re designing that connects the trail system with Tan Yard Park to the trail system at the Riverwalk. We”re also placing a whole lot of emphasis on the connections to neighborhoods that surround the park and especially downtown Columbus. We believe the basis for the design is an urban fabric that connects with the urban character of the surrounding neighborhoods and downtown.”
Tan Yard Park also likely will connect to the Hitching Lot Farmers Market.
“We”re designing the park, so those two facilities can complement each other,” Meador said. “We believe this is going to be a great facility for not only recreational aspects of soccer and multi-purpose fields for archery and things of that nature, but it”s a gathering place for festivals and entertainment and activities that families and citizens of Columbus will participate in.”
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