Here’s a sneak peak at plans for Lexington’s new 137 acre park off of Versailles Road
Initial plans for a new 137-acre park off of Parkers Mill and Versailles roads include a 10-acre dog park, multiple athletic fields, a playground, trails and open green spaces.
Cardinal Run North, which is scheduled to open in 2024, will be the first large park to be opened in 25 years.
Cardinal Run North will offer amenities on a similar scale to other large parks, such as Jacobson Park or Shillito Park, city officials said.
The land that is now Cardinal Run North and South was donated to the city in 1997. Cardinal Run South opened in the early 2000s. However, the city did not have money to develop Cardinal Run North.
Thanks largely to federal coronavirus relief money, the city finally has money to develop the 137 acres.
On Monday, Brandstetter Carroll Inc., EHI Consultants and the city unveiled initial plans for the park at a meeting at Beaumont Middle School.
The initial plans call for much of the green space or unused areas to be located on the side of the park that backs up to residential areas including The Silks and Wellesley Heights neighborhood. The entrance to the park will be on Parkers Mill Road.
The proposed sports fields will be on the side of the park closest to New Circle Road.
Many residents of neighborhoods that abut the property said they were glad the initial designs kept all the active uses of the park — including playing fields — away from neighborhoods.
Community feedback
During Monday night’s meeting, residents were asked what types of sports fields they wanted on the site as well as what kind of trails, like biking and walking.
Monica Conrad, director of parks and recreation, said that feedback will be used to develop final plans for the new park.
People were given red stickers to put on certain amenities they wanted to see. Attendees on Monday overwhelmingly wanted trails.
“That’s always our number one requested amenity,” Conrad said.
It wasn’t just neighbors who attended Monday night’s meeting. Groups representing various sports also attended the meeting to lobby the city for their particular sport.
Pickleball players said they would like to see more pickleball courts throughout the city.
Gary Adamson recently won a state pickleball title. He and others would like to see more pickleball courts throughout Lexington.
The sport is booming in Lexington and in other areas.
Jarrett Spriggs, of Bluegrass Disc Golf Association, also attended Monday night’s meeting. Disc golf has also exploded in popularity, especially since the coronavirus pandemic. The group, which has north of 170 members, is always looking for new courses. A new disc golf course is in the works for the Coldstream Park area. Some of the tournaments the group sponsors brings in more than 400 people to Lexington.
“We just came to see what the proposal is,” Spriggs said of Cardinal Run North. The areas that are currently not designated for use — largely due to the topography — could be used for a disc golf course, he said.
“We are very environmentally friendly,” Spriggs said. Disc golf is low-impact on ecologically sensitive areas, he said.
What’s next?
Michelle Kosieniak, superintendent of planning and design for the parks department, said it’s likely a final plan for the park will be released sometime in January after the city tabulates all the results from the feedback received Monday and from an online survey.
Not only does the parks department have to balance the wants of all the people who will want to use the park but the city will also have to be mindful of costs, she said. Many projects the city has bid over the past 18 months have come in over cost estimates. Other times, the city has released bids for projects and received no bidders.
The city is using $10.1 million from the $121 million American Rescue Plan Act funding to build out the park. In total, the city is spending more than $24 million in federal coronavirus relief money on multiple park updates.
Koieniak said construction will likely start sometime in 2023 but the park likely won’t open until 2024.
This story was originally published November 15, 2022 at 12:06 PM.
