Parks and Recreation, design team ask public for input on new Lawrence park

photo by: Nick Krug

Plans are in the works for a new 10-acre city park on land in west Lawrence just north of 5100 Overland Drive, the proposed location for a new police headquarters.

The Lawrence Parks and Recreation Department and a team designing a new park in northwest Lawrence asked residents to vote on concepts for the park during a meeting on Wednesday at Sports Pavilion Lawrence.

The public was asked to vote on three concept and design choices related to four features: playgrounds, trails, shelters and a spray water park.

People expressed their preference for shelter design, for example, by placing marbles in jars representing stone, contemporary or fabric choices.

photo by: Dylan Lysen

A board at a Lawrence Parks and Recreation meeting asks the public to vote on what kind of shelter design they would like in a new park in northwest Lawrence.

Landworks Studios, the design team, is seeking the public’s input before it begins a conceptual site design. Three more meetings for people to vote and share thoughts will take place in November, December and February.

The park will be next to the future police headquarters building. Earlier this year, the city began discussing plans to devote about 10 acres of its 29-acre property near the intersection of Overland and Wakarusa drives for the park.

Another portion of the property will be the site of the police department’s new $17 million headquarters. In August, the Lawrence City Commission authorized a $1.35 million architectural services contract with Leawood firm Hoefer Wysocki for the new police headquarters.

Construction on the police headquarters is expected to begin in August 2019, with a planned opening in September 2020. Construction on the park would then begin sometime in 2021.

5100 Overland Dr, Lawrence, KS 66049

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