What you shared with us about the design concepts
As you know, we are introducing stormwater management infrastructure in Cherry Park. This means that some changes will be coming to the park, including upgrades to park features. Earlier this year, we presented design ideas for Cherry Park in the following ways:
- Public Open House on June 20, 2024
- Virtual Open House from June 6 to July 18, 2024
- Attended the Cherry Park Festival on July 6, 2024
Most of the people who took part in the Open House and virtual Open House live near Cherry Park. They said that their main activities in the park are:
- Walking or cycling on the trail
- Attending the Cherry Park Festival
- Enjoying nature
There were also two general designs presented to the public, as follows:
- Concept One - adding a wet pond in Cherry Park (Concept One), while also keeping the two baseball diamonds, but in new locations.
- Concept Two (A) and (B) - adding an underground stormwater holding tank under the baseball diamonds and a new stream feature in the park. The Concept Two (B) design also included more park features.
People liked a smaller water feature in the park (Concept Two) better than the wet pond (Concept One), but the choice between Concept Two (A) and Concept Two (B) was less clear. While people liked the extra park features that were shown in Concept Two (B), they also wanted to make sure that they could still use the park for different activities and events. For example, keeping open space in the park for more relaxed play and sports other than baseball, as well as the Cherry Park Festival.
When asked about other park features, people supported:
- More nature connections and naturalized plantings in parts of the park. This includes wildlife habitat, native planting, pollinator plantings, and opportunities to be close to nature.
- A new stone dust trail creating a connected trail throughout the park.
- More park features like individual and group seating, picnic tables, and upgraded play equipment.
- Flexibility of open and recreational space (open lawn and baseball diamond areas). That way, various activities including the Cherry Park Festival could continue to take place in the park.
Moving forward, you will have more chances to learn about and engage on the updates to Cherry Park through 2025.
