New Plans See Brighter Future For Dickinson Park

By Kendra Bobowick

She did not see the light rain or puddles in the parking lot. Instead, Parks and Recreation Director Amy Mangold envisioned “a country-club feel” for a revamped Dickinson Park, where she stood surveying the landscape last week. Blinking the thoughts away, she turned to look down a slope toward old tennis courts: “Look at the horrible earthquakes,” she said, noting the large cracks cutting the playing surface like fault lines. Already resurfaced three times, the courts need to be completely redone, she said.

Walking the property from the upper parking lot off Elm Drive, past a pavilion where summer campers cluster, across a footbridge spanning Deep Brook, and into fields where FunSpace, basketball, and a softball field occupy different corners, she described future plans. New images overlapped the older structures with a vision detailed in a Master Plan for Dickinson Park that is now in its early stages.

“People love the park, but it’s outdated,” Ms Mangold said. “We want to modernize, but keep it familiar.” Incorporating various costs into the recreation department’s five-year Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) requests, the park will have new courts, playgrounds, water features, summer entertainment, and more, “If wishes come true,” she said. “I see Dickinson as a family gathering park and a passive recreation facility.”

The pavilion’s attached storage house will disappear, opening the view to other areas of the park. A patio area will improve what is now just blacktop leading to the pavilion. The playground will see updates to the nearly 20-year-old FunSpace and a splash pad or “spray park” will revive the park’s water feature that was lost when Dickinson pool was first closed, then filled in leaving an empty field where swimmers once played. Plans for a skate park are also part of Dickinson’s future.

With hopes of locating a splash pad alongside a new playground, she said, “It can be an interactive play space where children can get wet and they can play.” Since the pool was filled in, the park has lacked a water facility. “A splash pad would fill a void.” Together, the two features alone add up to $750,000 in CIP requests.

She also hopes to improve a field area where a concert series — started this summer — drew families to the small green. The series “brought life to the park.” Ms Mangold liked the sight of people enjoying the grounds. “When I was at a concert this summer I saw families having dinner, I saw children with Frisbees, and people relaxing. I want to go with the feeling that you have a place to recreate close to home.” She added, “People need a place where they can go to stroll trails and have a picnic.”

Also in the CIP for an estimated $650,000 is the Dickinson infrastructure renovations that would include new tennis courts, parking areas, electrical systems, water lines to eliminate wells, and heat to the bathhouse.

With upgrades and new water features, she hopes the summer camp enrollment that had dropped after the pool closed will improve again. “We hope it will revitalize interest,” she said. Anticipating potential hurdles to funding, she remained positive: “That’s not to say we can’t find volunteers for fundraising, or alleviate costs with grants.”