Following the Sayre Park Master Plan open house where potential “basic improvements” to “aggressive changes” were unveiled, a community survey for further public input has launched.
“We hope that the survey provides more opportunity for the public to give their comments,” Glenwood Springs Parks and Recreation Director Brian Smith said of the survey that was put together by project partner veraCity. “The [Sayre Park Master Plan] has always been a community pushed initiative. … It’s been a grassroots effort.”
On May 30, project consultant Zehren and Associates displayed three potential options for the historic, multi-use park at a community open house.
“The options really are a tiered approach to how extensive should the improvements be,” Smith explained of the options, which ranged in scope from improving pedestrian pathways to replacing the entire baseball field with synthetic turf. “Is it a simple update of some of the amenities? … Or, a more reimagining of that space and how the public interacts with it and uses it. … What we’re trying to pull out of these open houses and surveys is not only what would the public like to see there, but to what extent.”
Located at 1702 Grand Ave., Sayre Park, which hosts the 122-year-old Strawberry Days Festival each June, was donated to the city in 1940 by James Sayre with the stipulation that it would remain just that — a park.
The public has until June 18 to take the 15-question survey, which can be found at http://www.surveymonkey.com/r/SayreParkPlan. The survey takes around 10 minutes to complete.
The survey asks a variety of questions, from whether or not Sayre has adequate parking to what changes, if any, the park’s tennis, volleyball and basketball courts as well as its baseball/softball field should undergo.
The survey also inquires about the public’s sentiment toward constructing a “historical plaza” in the park.
In addition to hosting the 122-year-old Strawberry Days Festival, the park served as a Civilian Conservation Corps camp and Prisoner of War Camp for World War II in the 1930s and ’40s.
“We don’t want to neglect one area to make sure that we take care of another area,” Smith explained of the city’s overall strategic planning. “We do want to make sure that we’re addressing streets, parks and all of the amenities and infrastructure that the city provides to keep our community working well and to make sure that people enjoy living here.”
