Sherwood Park overhaul

Noma Daniels, an Odessan mother of a 13-year-old and a 3-month-old, hasn't let her older son go down the street to Sherwood Park alone since he was jumped by three older boys two years ago at the park.

Today, she said, it has fallen further into disrepair with broken glass in the gravel around the playground equipment and a criminal element prowling the area at night.

She recalled a time when she was an Odessa child and the park was safe and fun for her and her peers,

But all that may soon change if plans to restore it to its glory come to fruition on schedule by the fall of 2010.

"I think they've been needing to do this for a long, long time," she said. "I want my kids to grow up in the same park I grew up in."

Sherwood Park, one of the city's oldest and most-frequented public spaces, has entered the final planning stages of what could very well be its return to glory.

City and architectural representatives presented some of the final plans for the park's $5 million renovation Thursday evening in the 60-acre park's community center building.

After two years of planning and constant communication with the city government and local residents, staff from the Odessa Parks and Recreation Department and project managers with the Lubbock-based architectural firm Parkhill Smith & Cooper explained a whole host of new amenities and refurbishments slated to come to the park this fall.

Chief among the new facilities are things like a complete overhaul of the Prairie Pete Playground, a biking/hiking track around the park, three new baseball fields, perimeter and interior lighting for safety, and restored irrigation.

Steve Patton, director of Odessa's parks department, said Sherwood, most likely because of its centralized location, serves more people than any other park in the city and has long been overdue for a complete facelift such as the one planned for it beginning in August.

 Chad Davis, a landscape architect with Parkhill Smith & Cooper, said designers paid close attention to retaining the park's "fun, kind of creative" traits that many adults remember it for today.

"We wanted to keep that historical context because that's what a lot of people, young and old, remember about it," he said.

But the changes, Davis said, will include bringing the equipment up to safety and accessibility codes - like, for instance, Americans with Disabilities Act compliance for the hiking/biking trails and soft cushioning around the taller playground equipment.

Also included in the renovations is attention to functionality within a residential area, such as high-tech lighting for the baseball fields that will keep the light from shining into neighbors' windows.

Davis said the firm kept durability in mind and recommended industrial and commercial strength materials for the parks incoming equipment, which will help the facilities last into the future.

And Patton said upkeep cost for new equipment will actually be cheaper, but the older amenities are "junky" and "dilapidated" and require constant maintenance and attention from city workers.

Chief among Daniels' concerns as a mother, however, was whether safety concerns played into the revamped parks plans.

Patton, in response, said several aspects of the plans should make it safer for families, including more lighting and motion-activated lights to alert people of trespassers after hours, improved visibility in the playground equipment, and, oddly enough, more people.

"On the flip side, when that many more people come to the park, there will be more people with cell phones," he said. "What I'm really hoping and counting on is people self-policing."

"I think the lighting will help the most," Daniels said, "because right now it's so dark."

His major concern that has not been dealt with, Patton said, is parking and traffic issues that already plague the area around the park.

He said no plans currently call for expanded parking around the area, which is going to become especially troublesome when people from around the region start flocking to the skate park and the other attractive new park facilities.

  "We've got a terrible traffic problem, and parking," Patton said. "And that's got to be addressed during phase two," which has not been set in stone by city officials.

Meanwhile, Daniels is just glad the city has turned its attention back to the park on which she herself grew up.

"I really hope you bring that back," she told Patton. "That was great."

NEW AMENITIES

>> New automatic/manual irrigation systems.

>> Complete renovation of Prairie Pete Playground.

>> New restrooms.

>> Eight-foot-wide hiking/biking trails around perimeter. 

>> Three new baseball fields in the park's center, including two little-league sized and one adult-sized.

>> Soccer field street-side fencing.

>> Perimeter and interior lighting.

>> New landscaping.