Davis Street Skate Plaza
Davis Street Park is surrounded on all four sides by single family and rental housing and did not offer barrier free access or playground equipment meeting current safety standards. The City of Kalamazoo’s Parks and Recreation Department (Kzoo Parks) hired OCBA to update the existing park design.
Kzoo Parks and OCBA held multiple neighborhood meetings during the design development phase to allow neighborhood residents an opportunity to review and comment on the designs. As the design was revised to meet the neighborhood’s concerns, including altering the layout of new walks and pavements so that all but one of the existing mature trees remained in the park, it became clear that the neighbors were strongly in favor of developing the skate plaza which had been slated for Phase 2.
Design of the Phase 2 portion of the project, which included the skate park, began as implementation of Phase 1 got underway. Three public meetings with the neighborhood stakeholders were held obtain input on the skate plaza and review the design as it developed.
The concrete pad and skate park elements were designed and documented by Vince Onel of Spohn Ranch. OCBA was responsible for the interface of these elements with the rest of the park, which included new playground equipment and safety surfacing, seating, a shelter with picnic tables and a grill, landscaping, a new stormwater system and a gaga pit.
Construction of the improvements started in the summer of 2017 and was completed during the Spring of 2018.
