Updated Park Master and Trail Plan

MARCH 2023 UPDATE

After many meetings with a steering committee, special interest groups in the community, a public meeting, public surveys, OHM Advisors created the final draft recommendations and concept renderings. A public meeting was held on March 22, 2023 where Jeremy Hinte, the project manager from OHM Advisors, explained the lengthy process their firm took and unveiled the final citywide recommendations, recommendations for Memorial Park, Durling Park, and gave an overview of the proposed new athletic complex. The presentation can be found HERE.

2023 Improvements

The plan shows for improvements for all of our parks in the next 10 years or so, but the first parks to receive updates are Memorial and Durling Parks. They are scheduled to have first phase improvements happen this year. 

PROJECT OVERVIEW

Wadsworth Park System provides over 200 acres of parks, creating a healthy and fun atmosphere for recreation, competition, and relaxation. Park users can hike trails, use playground equipment, rent shelters, go fishing, bike or walk the 2-mile-long Interurban Trail, go sled riding, and play basketball, baseball, volleyball, tennis, and disc golf. The City provides fields for baseball/softball little league and travel teams, as well as fields for lacrosse, and football leagues. Wadsworth is a unique city in today’s world, embracing our history and looking ahead to the future, making it a great place to live and work.

The City is ready to make improvements to the park system and update amenities for years of enjoyment. Before beginning this process, big-picture approach is needed to make sure improvements are done strategically and to meet the growing needs of the public. 

The Updated Park Master Plan will be a document that will provide a framework for decision-makers to plan, improve and deliver to the community what it needs over the next 10 years. The last Park Master Plan was developed in 2006 and has guided the community since then. 

In the near future, the City plans to make large-scale improvements to two of the main parks – Memorial Park and Durling Park – and is seeking design services. The City received state appropriation funding for the improvements and seeks to have professional guidance in the planning before beginning construction in the spring of 2023. 

GOALS AND OBJECTIVES

The City of Wadsworth selected a firm, OHM Advisors, with expertise in the planning and development of Park Master Plans and designs of park improvements, to deliver these goals and objectives:

  1. Engage the general public, stakeholder team, and special interest groups to identify the needs in the community now and into the future. Last year, a community survey was accomplished by a parks committee.
  2. Develop an existing conditions assessment of parks, ballfields, trails, and amenities. Assess the community benefits, deficiencies, and necessary improvements to our current facilities.
  3. Formulate a plan of improvements that meets the needs of our community and results in a capital plan with cost estimates.
  4. Determine the need for new trails to enhance our system and improve connectivity of our parks and the Interurban Trail. This will make our community more accessible.
  5. Develop design concepts and images for two of our main parks, Memorial Park and Durling Park, which will undergo major renovations in 2023. We are seeking amenities that should be updated or included, as well as layouts of these amenities, parking, drives, etc. 
  6. Identify future park/ballfield needs and areas of potential development.

After many meetings with a steering committee and special interest groups in the community, OHM Advisors began creating concepts plans of the parks to show the community at a Public Engagement Meeting. That meeting was in December of 2022 and was well attended with a lot of community input. 

This input allowed the consultant to make revisions before sending out a Public Engagement Survey to get feedback on conceptual designs and needed amenities. The Survey was issued online and was live for 3 weeks and received over 2,400 responses. That is equal to 10% of the community and is a very high number for survey respondents.

The survey results were reviewed and further changes were made to the concepts for presentation to the steering committee at the end of January. After additional changes by the Steering Committee, the consultants created final concept renderings. As the plan was wrapped up, a public meeting was held on March 22, 2023 where Jeremy Hinte, the project manager from OHM Advisors, explained the lengthy process their firm took and unveiled the final recommendations for Memorial Park, Durling Park, and gave an overview of the proposed new athletic complex. The presentation can be found by clicking here.