Bicentennial Park was an aging facility that was originally constructed in the 1970’s and badly in need of an upgrade and some continuity. It served as the largest and most centrally located park in the City’s system. In 2006, the City began working with SRA on a newly acquired 20-acre site adjacent to its existing 61-acre park. During its early evaluation, SRA recognized numerous challenges within the park, which included: 1) The vehicular and pedestrian connections outside and within the park were not linked; 2) The park was broken into numerous individual parcels and facilities with no relation or association; 3) The sidewalks were being used as stormwater conveyances; and 4) The new 20-acre site was isolated from the existing 61-acre park by a large drainage easement.
Park Engineering features include:
Designing a drainage and irrigation pond to solve an existing drainage issue. Stormwater runoff from an existing drainage area of approximately 100-acres was concentrated into an earthen channel that ran through the park and perpetuated flooding conditions for downstream neighborhoods. The SRA team designed a dual-use pond that improved conditions downstream while providing water for irrigation. We also designed a metered outflow structure that now controls the release of storm water downstream. A well was also designed to fill the pond with water during drought periods. The pond is both a functional feature of the park and an amenity.
Designing a 350+ space parking lot that is hidden from the adjacent neighborhood on the west side of Shady Oaks Road by taking advantage of the grade change of the site.
Utilizing detention, filtering, and plant selection to clean storm runoff before it exits the site.
