MADISON, Wis. — Community members on Madison’s northeast side got a chance Tuesday evening to share their thoughts on the future of Reindahl Park.
The city held a public input meeting Tuesday as staff members work to create a new master plan for the nearly 91-acre park along East Washington Avenue. That plan will serve as a blueprint for the next 15 to 25 years at the park, said Ann Freiwald, the manager of planning and development for the city’s parks department.
The park currently features tennis, many soccer fields, a playground, a splash pad, community gardening, a shelter and more.
“We’re interested in hearing what people who use all of those different features have to say about the future of Reindahl Park,” Freiwald said.
Community members said keeping youth soccer in the park’s future is critical because many organizations rely on these fields. Others expressed a desire to expand on the park’s space for community gardening, to retain the vast and natural lands in the park, including trees and native wildlife. Residents near the park are much younger on average compared to the rest of Madison, leading some to ask for input from the youth on what they want to see in the park.
Many cited the open space and size of the park, as well as the sports fields as great strengths of the park. On the contrary, they described the underutilization of space and not enough foot traffic and activity in the park as weaknesses.
The meeting comes seven months after city officials laid out their vision for a new “Imagination Center” at the park. That facility is proposed to serve as a library and community center.
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After another meeting to gather more community input, the city will submit a draft of the master plan in November 2022, with the final proposal coming in January 2023. Read more about the planning process here.
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