Input on city’s MAPS 3 park sought using online survey
Now’s your chance to let planners know what you want to see most in Oklahoma City’s MAPS 3 downtown park.
After laying out the basics in urban park design and soliciting preliminary ideas at a meeting last week, Hargreaves Associates consultants are asking for priorities in a survey available on Oklahoma City’s website.
Survey respondents are asked to choose their top five interests in different areas of focus for the park, like types of event space or sports facilities.
The survey also asks what park element would best represent the “essence of Oklahoma City,” and for the respondent’s favorite park space in the state.
“We’ll be able to tabulate that and see what the majority of people are looking for,” said David Todd, Oklahoma City’s MAPS program director.
The consultants will study the survey’s results between now and their next public meeting in Oklahoma City, set for Oct. 25, said Jacob Petersen, the lead Hargreaves consultant on the project.
The results will help define three basic plans for the park, which will be presented for public review at the meeting.
Each plan will feature a different way to incorporate the elements of the park people say they want, with an eye on spurring future development around the park.
“The master planning alternatives will be three fundamentally different ways to integrate the most highly desired programming, and lessons learned from other large parks in this country and around the world,” Petersen said.
A December meeting will follow, where Hargreaves will present one finalized plan based on feedback from the October meeting.
The park will be built in phases beginning next year, and it’s expected to be completed in 2020.
The northern edge of the $132 million park will border the future Oklahoma City Boulevard and the MAPS 3 convention center, to be built on the site of a former Ford dealership south of Myriad Gardens.
The Skydance Bridge will connect the 40-acre northern section to the 30-acre southern section, which will extend to the Oklahoma River.
Hargreaves won the contract to design the park, based in part on its public involvement in the process and its experience in designing ambitious urban park projects around the world.