A redesigned Audubon Park will include amenities that more closely reflect a changing neighborhood.
On Friday, May 31, at the Audubon Park recreation building, Bianca Paz from the Minneapolis Park & Recreation Board (MPRB) and two landscape designers from a local urban design company spent two hours sharing redesign plans for the six-acre park and, importantly for them, soliciting opinions regarding those plans.
Poster boards were spread out on tables and display easels for those coming in to the open house to review the different concepts for courts design, playground enhancement and overall park-wide improvements.
Leilen Farias and Jordan Hedlund, the designers from HKGi, invited people to place stickers alongside the concept designs most appealing to them. The brightly colored designs, with different court areas for sports like Ecuavoley (Ecuadorian volleyball), which uses a soccer ball and higher nets, bicipolo (bike polo), with bikes taking the place of horses and futsal, essentially a scaled-down version of soccer played on a hard court, are “representations of very colorful communities that are … here” in the Audubon neighborhood Hedlund said.
Dakotah Lomasi, recreation supervisor at Audubon Park was also on hand and stressed the need to include as many voices as possible in the park’s redesign. Mentioned frequently by the landscape design team was the phrase “universally designed,” reflecting the spirit of ADA compliance that is also built into the plans. The potential for the interchangeability of the different court surfaces was also stressed. Not to be forgotten, basketball court lines were slated for repainting in all three court redesigns.
The sledding hill will remain.
Discussion of playground and overall park improvements revolved around the topic of refurbishing or replacing the existing elements. Improved lighting and pathways came up frequently in conversations.
While most people filtering through the open house were identified as neighborhood users, a few folks from other parts of the city came by to check on the proceedings. Of specific interest seemed to be whether or not Audubon Park would become the second Minneapolis park with space specifically designed for the inclusion of bike polo.
Ground breaking is anticipated to begin next summer. Current MPRB funding, guided by the 2019 Master Plan and incorporating capital improvement plan dollars from Minneapolis’ 20-Year Neighborhood Park Plan (NPP20), stands at just over $1.7million between 2024-2025 for Audubon Park.
Visit https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/AudubonPark by June 23 to participate in the Audubon Park Site Improvements survey.
Bianca Paz explains court redesigns to Josie and her mother Alison. Josie was repeatedly heard saying, “It’s so cool.” (Andrew Lake)