August 2020 - Parks & Recreation - 39

From initial conversations with the
community in 2016, the city planned
to replace an old playground. Tennessee American Water has been
part of the Chattanooga community
since the 1800s and through the support of a $150,000 grant provided
by the Building Better Communities
grant program, city staff were able to
include a new play space from natural materials that would better celebrate the ecological restoration of
the park. However, Chattanooga had
very few examples of natural playgrounds to reference. The city sought
proposals from qualified firms to design and furnish a custom-built play
structure. After an extensive selection
process, the city selected CORE Associates - which ended up being
the perfect firm to execute this project. Inspired by the old springbox at
the park, CORE created a new playground, called " The Spring, " which
honors the surrounding landscape
by leveraging the natural spring that
runs through the park and feeds
the lake. The playground is broken
down into six main components: The
Gateway, a collaborative community art piece; The Ridge, a central
climbing structure; the Oxley trail, a
discovery trail that pays homage to
the zoo that used to be at the park;
Conservation Creek, a rainwater collecting creek bed; and the Stematory,
a STEM-inspired outdoor classroom.
Along with the play space, access to
the pond was enhanced to ensure the
community could engage directly
with the park's water resources.
Other key aspects of the park restoration included water-quality improvements, including restoration of
the lake, daylighting of the spring,
additional green infrastructure to improve overall water quality and a new
boardwalk around the lake for the
community to enjoy. Leveraging these
improvements with a nature-based

play area and outdoor classroom
showcased the importance of the
ecological balance of the park and
ensured community members can become future environmental stewards.
What started as a water-quality
project to improve the pond in 2016
transitioned into an overall park restoration. Now four years later, Chattanooga's oldest park has a little something for everyone to enjoy. " This is
where people come to celebrate and
to have fun; to mourn; to see each
other; to spread some love to each
other; to talk about the things they
may disagree on. This is the public
square, " says Mayor Andy Berke.
Local educator Joyce Lancaster
says she can now fully enjoy the great
outdoors in her own backyard. " Our
families have always enjoyed the park
and now they've done a wonderful
renovation here. It's beautiful. My
children are excited....It's just a beautiful asset to the community. "
While the city and the community
are all very happy with the end result,
some important lessons were learned
along the way. Park staff faced skepticism from the community and scrutiny from leadership but had a vision
for this space - they just had to bring
those with doubts along. And, community engagement is an important
aspect of the work, which meant
ensuring community members were
engaged throughout the process.
City staff hosted a community project day where the designers and the
city invited residents to spend a Saturday morning creating brick molds
for the entryway to the playground.
This provided the opportunity to
bring more people into the process,
and gave the community the opportunity to have a lasting piece of the
playground they could call their own.
Since the park reopened on February 29, 2020, the community has
fully embraced the park and play-

PHOTO COURTESY OF DAWN WHITE

A major highlight of the renovated East Lake Park is The Gateway, which comprises
handmade mosaics created by local community members. The archway is an artistic
representation of the original spring-head located in the park.

ground. The adjacent elementary
school has taken the initiative to
create a curriculum that activates the
outdoor classroom and playground
and residents from across the city
travel to enjoy this unique space.
The American Water Charitable
Foundation's Building Better Communities grant program helps families
not only enjoy the wonders of water
and the natural world, but also learn
how every drop counts in ensuring
stewards of our natural resources.
Both of these projects took different
approaches to connect their communities to nature and local water
resources, which prove that through
thoughtful planning and community
engagement, unique spaces can be created that highlight key environmental
opportunities that can help inspire the
next generation of stewards.
Patti G. Sterling is Grants Coordinator for Town of Bel Air,
Maryland (psterling@belairmd.org). Akosua Cook, AICP, is
Parks Planner for the city of Chattanooga, Tennessee
(acook@chattanooga.gov).

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Parks & Recreation

August 2020 - Parks & Recreation

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