New Park Plan Includes Space for Community Garden, Festivals, BMX Track

Community members will have one last chance to weigh in on plans for the new 110-acre park in north St. Charles before the master plan is finalized.

The draft plan includes two areas for festivals, a network of trails, a disc golf course, baseball fields, soccer fields and a 10-acre BMX dirt bike area.

Jacobs Engineering will present the draft master plan for public discussion at a meeting from 6 to 8 p.m. Monday, Dec. 19 at in . 

Chris Atkinson, assistant director of the St. Charles Parks and Recreation, said the process for designing this park has been a perfect mesh of community feedback and known needs in St. Charles.

Jacobs Engineering developed seven or eight possible plans which Parks Department Director Maralee Britton and Atkinson narrowed to three.

and feedback was used to create a draft a master plan.

The park plan includes space for a lake, a plaza that could be used for ice skating or roller blading, rentable facilities, playgrounds, an outdoor classroom, football/soccer and baseball fields, open-air pavillions and walking trails.

Two areas for festivals will take some of the pressure off of Frontier Park, which is home to many festivals throughout the year. Atkinson said the designers listened to residents who told them they'd like to see BMX trails and a community garden.

"This park allows for a lot of that stuff to take place," he said. "At the same time there's a lot of it that's not developed. There's a lot of open spaces."

After the meeting on Monday, Jacobs Engineering will finalize the master plan and present it to the Parks Board with estimated cost for the different parts of the park.

The longterm plans for developing the park are still fluid, said Atkinson. About $130,000 has been included in the 2012 budget for the new park.

"When you are looking at a park this size, we're hoping it will allow us to get users in the park," he said. "We're not going to build four ball diamonds for $130,000."

The BMX track, which would require much less investment, may be a possibility for next year, he said. After that, the Parks Board would be able to decide how to prioritize the park's development while maintaining and developing the other 23 parks in the system.

"We’re being upfront with everyone what you see presented isn’t going to happen overnight," Atkinson said. "This is a long-term development process."

BMX Park

Tony Caruso, owner of the and a mountain biker, said he's thrilled to see plans for a BMX park included in the draft.

Caruso and other biking enthusaists attended the meetings and advocated for a large BMX area. Right now, a 10-acre section on the north side of the park has been designated for a BMX area.

Caruso said the park could be a destination throughout the metro area. He said there's a membership-only BMX track in St. Peters and an indoor facility at St. Louis Mills Mall, but no real neighborhood facility for bikers. 

Caruso said since the area is mostly flat, they would need to bring in some manmade features to make it cool.

"We're looking for a pump track, which is like a toned-down BMX track that just about anybody could ride," he said. "It's a new concept in dirt riding and we just don't have one here."

See examples of other BMX tracks from around the country here.

He's hopeful that such an attraction could help kids from the St. Charles area develop their skills. Now he sees them riding around town, jumping curbs and riding in traffic.

Caruso started a Facebook group to try to generate more interest: St. Louis All Mountain Riders. A group is planning to meet Saturday at 3 p.m. at the Bike Stop Cafe to ride out to the park area and then do some brainstorming.

"We're trying to develop a movement from the ground up," he said.

Atkinson said once the park is in the design phase, the department would work closely with Caruso and other riders.

"They have a ton of good ideas," he said.