By Greg Abrams
Cashman Park Committee Chair
Desert Ridge Community Association, Director
Dear Residents,
On behalf of the entire Committee, Board of Directors and the Association management, I would like to thank all of you that have taken the time to voice your opinion and complete a survey. After collecting nearly seven hundred surveys, it is clear that our residents would like to see the sixteen year-old park upgraded (see detailed survey summary on page 9). And while I think most folks would prefer to see the City of Phoenix fulfill this financial obligation I think most understand that the City is not in a position to do so at this time; especially those residents that attended the June Board Meeting and listened to the Parks Department representative speak about their “State of the Union.” And as we’ve highlighted before, The City of Phoenix has agreed to allow the park to be renamed, in consideration for our contribution, to Cashman Park at Desert Ridge.
Since the June Board Meeting, the Committee has been working with the Landscape Architect, The McGough Group, to incorporate your feedback. We have removed the water feature and amphitheater, and focused on upgrading and improving what we already have in the park. The revised concept reorients the sand volley ball courts from east/west to north/south, softens up the park aesthetics by adding more trees and grass, as well as provides additional seating and shade. We also kept the desert walk fitness trail enhancement and park equipment upgrade from the original concept plan.
We would like to take this opportunity to thank Tim McGough, on behalf of our residents, Committee and Board of Directors, for providing us with a revised conceptual drawing at no charge to the Association. They are a solid community partner and have done an outstanding job working with this Committee.
The Committee believes that the revised conceptual design (bottom page 10) incorporates most of the feedback that we’ve received over the past few months. And we also think that this concept plan will be approved by the City of Phoenix Parks Department once we present the update. And finally, we believe that these proposed park upgrades will not require a special development or maintenance agreement between the City of Phoenix and the Association which simplifies the project while at the same time addresses most of the concerns raised by residents.
Additionally, the Committee has decided to start a fund raising effort for the specific components identified on page 11.
Our goal is to raise $105,000 to offset the capital requirements on the project. The Committee has already identified a few key partners that we plan to contact directly but we would love to hear from you if you are interested in making a donation also. The current budget for the project is as follows:
Construction Drawings $ 10,000
Park Upgrade/Construction $475,000
Fundraising ($105,000)
Capital Expense $380,000
And finally, the Committee will not be taking any additional steps until the project can be put to a community wide vote. A mailer will be sent with the January assessments. If the community votes in support of the project, the plans can be finalized so that construction can commence by Spring/Summer 2013.
In summary, we believe we have developed a park program that will provide for the community based on the feedback while being sensitive to the capital expenses being incurred by the Association.
