Picnic in the Park & Upgrade Plans
In the last issue of Desert Ridge Lifestyles Magazine, we told you about the exploration of Cashman Park upgrades and the “Picnic in the Park,” a general celebration for the community and also a public display of the initial Cashman Park design plans.
With over 500 residents attending a picnic that included a barbeque lunch, multiple bounce-houses and other fun activities, the “Picnic in the Park” was a great success! Attendees took their turns on train rides, traveled through a safari bounce house, and those not faint of heart slid down a two story inflatable slide. We could not have had such a wonderful day without the support of our numerous Vestar Boys & Girls Club volunteers, our supporting vendors including JJ’s Delicatessen and AZ Bounce Pro, and the Rossmar & Graham management company staff.
The event was such a success that we’ve received feedback to make it an annual community park event in the spring. We would love to host a picnic annually and think that bringing the community together will add to our Desert Ridge lifestyle. To better our lifestyle, the Desert Ridge Board of Directors also is looking at ways to improve the community through proper investment of our excess reserve funds. The Cashman Park upgrade is one of these potential investments into our community.
To briefly recap the Cashman Park project, Cashman is a 10 acre neighborhood park within Desert Ridge that is owned and operated by the City of Phoenix. Cashman is not within a formal sub-association area and depends 100% on City of Phoenix taxpayer money for its upkeep. The City has not had the funds available to make many upgrades to the Park system, and Cashman Park hasn’t had a true upgrade in 16 years.
Your Board has researched the possibility of enhancing the Park through the City of Phoenix’s “Adopt-a-Park” program. This large project is a cutting edge public/private partnership; a project of this size and breadth will set an example for other partnerships between the City of Phoenix and Community Associations. The Board and specially formed Exploratory Committee worked to get input from various constituencies within the community to design a park that has features for multiple groups and interests. The “Picnic in the Park” was another way to solicit input from the community. Preliminary park designs have upgraded ramadas, a multipurpose amphitheater, new playground structures, exercise stations, a walking trail and a splash pad. In addition, practical features such as more xeriscaping, landscaping to control water runoff and additional parking make this a responsible park design for the community.
The Board believes that an upgrade to Cashman Park will increase the value of homes in Desert Ridge and will improve the Desert Ridge lifestyle with an amazing amenity. Although financing for the initial upgrades will come from excess community reserve funds already on hand, and will not increase your Master
Association dues, the projected figure to bring the park all of the amenities sought is a minimum of few hundred thousand dollars and could go up to a million dollars. Annual operating costs are also not expected to increase dues, but that will partially depend on continued construction in Desert Ridge and the final maintenance agreement we’re able to work out with the City of Phoenix. Therefore, with an investment of this size, we want to make sure that we upgrade the park with the voice of the vast majority of residents in mind.
In this initial development phase, abundant community input is critical. We have created a survey that contains the general design upgrade plans, and want your input. You can access the survey and FAQs on the web at https://desertridgelifestyles.org/community/2012/03/cashman-park-upgrade-project-2 and either mail the survey back or bring it to the Desert Ridge Community Association Office on Tatum. You can also pick up a survey right from the Community Association Office. We have had over 100 survey responses but would like a few hundred more in the next month so that we can resume our conversations with the City. Below are the results we have regarding a few of the more high profile projects. The survey has a scale of 1 to 5 with 1 being not worthwhile and 5 being very worthwhile.
Splash Pad
The Splash Pad, which has design ideas for children of all ages in the community, has polarizing support, with most people being at the extreme ends of the spectrum. As of April 20th, the average score is currently a 3.12 out of 5, which shows a slight trend in favor of the pad.
Amphitheater
The Amphitheater, which may be used for concerts in the park, movies, and also serves as a water retention basin, has support elements at the ends of the spectrum and is currently polling at 2.94 out of 5, which is slightly below favorable, but not at a statistically significant level.
Upgraded Playground Equipment
There appears to be a tremendous amount of support for upgraded playground equipment with the majority
of people feeling strongly in favor of the equipment and an average score
of 4.22 out of 5.
Please let us know your thoughts; we’re looking for feedback, and want you involved in this community commitment. Always feel free to contact the Board through our Community Association
office at 480-551-4553, or at desertridge@rossmar.com. With your support, next year our annual “Picnic in the Park” may even be able to showcase the first elements of a park upgrade!
By Dan Oseran
Cashman Park Committee
Desert Ridge Community Association
