HomeMy WebLinkAboutSummary notes from Champion Park and Renaissance Park Site VisitsSummary notes from Champion Park and Renaissance Park Site Visits
November 1, 2018 Site Visits
General Information:
The Meridian Parks and Recreation Commission wanted Champion Park to be the next park for the
Meridian Art in Public Spaces plan because it is in need of some identity. The Meridian Arts Commission
had originally planned on tackling another project at this point, but we ended up settling on addressing
two park identity art projects at the same time. The Meridian Arts Commission wanted to be sure that
they were addressing multiple areas of Meridian for public art projects. Having two identity projects
allows us to hit south Meridian as well as North Meridian.
The budget is $40k per site, with stipends for both sites. See RFP for more details.
Two comments that came up with the Parks Commission were that they were interested in seeing
proposals that were usable or could be interacted with and interested in seeing proposals that could
reach both park users and passersby.
Census information for park areas (or anywhere) can be found here:
https://www.census.gov/censusexplorer/censusexplorer.html
Steve or Mike may have additional notes to add. If you all have additional questions contact Hillary
Blackstone: hblackstone@meridiancity.org or by phone 208-489-0399.
Champion Park
The park was named for champions for sports. It has the basic neighborhood park amenities: loop
pathway, basketball hoop, playground, shelter, and bathroom.
Stephanie asked if there were particular uses in the park that we knew of. Steve knew that there are
lacrosse practices here, but Hillary will try to follow up with an HOA member. Later, Mike said that
whatever sport is in season, those people practice at the park. Carol Corrie is our HOA representative for
Champion Park. She said that kids would likely use a bike rack at the park while they are using the park.
There are no specific plans for any changes to the park, other than the art installation.
The tree in the raised bed in the parking lot was torn out and replaced. The honey locust that used to be
there had damaged the curbing and sidewalk. The sector box for power is located near the restroom;
there aren’t any streetlights that we can pull power from.
Creg Steele, Parks Commissioner, was called in by Steve to provide further insight on the development
that the park is in. All of the streets are named after local high school coaches. Many of the coaches
were football coaches, but some of those coaches also taught other sports. All of those coaches were
recognized as fairly successful coaches in the area.
Creg added that the Champion theme could be more about sports in general, instead of just football
specific.
Kind of fun side-note: The font of the sign looks like Cooper Black or similar.
Renaissance Park
Renaissance Park was named based off of a suggestion from the public. Someone from Tuscany actually
suggested the name that stuck. Streets in this neighborhood have an Italian theme. Renaissance Park
has an odd shape and all of the amenities are kind of pushed into one corner. The open play space
should remain open in both parks. There had been some conversation about using the small strip on the
north side of the park for bocce ball, or something else.
Renaissance Park is larger and newer than Champion Park. The Italian theme is pervasive throughout the
neighborhood. Steve noted that enforcing that theme makes the most sense.
The park only has one rock sign, which is different than the sign at Champion Park. Much of the same
comments for Champion Park apply to Renaissance. It could be something visible from any number of
roads or paths, Parks Department isn’t married to their signage (they could move the rock to another
area of the park), artwork could be mounted to existing buildings, etc. There used to be a large sandbox
in the park. Kids would use the water fountain or bathrooms to try to create sand castles/creations. That
sandbox was removed. (Discovery Park will have a sand/water play area.)