Phoenix wants to hear community priorities for park near South Mountain

A butterfly garden, a fitness station, a baseball field and space for food trucks are some of the proposed amenities for a renewed Circle K Park, which is situated against the backdrop of South Mountain near the intersection of South 14th Street and East South Mountain Avenue.

For now, nearly $2.5 million has been set aside for improvements to the south Phoenix park. But before revitalization plans are finalized, the city wants to hear how residents would like the money to be spent.

A proposed master plan for the park, developed by a steering committee of nearby residents working alongside Phoenix's Parks and Recreation Department, envisions an enhanced version of the park.

The master plan proposes a new playground, a fitness station, a baseball field, renovated restrooms, a 9-hole disc golf course, an amphitheater, a pump track for mountain bikers, a multiuse trail, a sports court area with pickleball, tennis and basketball courts, a skate plaza, and a community space with picnic tables, a game area and a water feature.

“We did a long-range plan, realizing that there’s not money for it all at once,” said Kay Shepard, a steering committee member who has lived in the South Mountain area for over 50 years.

The plan is to complete the improvements “in segments over time,” she said.

Community members are now being asked to identify their park improvement priorities. The Parks Department has approximately $480,000 budgeted for fiscal year 2022-23 and $2 million for 2023-24 for improvements.

“This type of investment, it's long overdue,” said Victor Vidales, a steering committee member who lives within walking distance of the park. Along with his neighbors, he has been advocating for improvements since 2020.

In March 2022, Councilmember Carlos Garcia’s District 8 office partnered with the Sagrado Galleria to host a festival at the park in an effort to kick off its renewal. In August, the steering committee began meeting with the Parks Department to create the master plan.

In the park, "there’s just so much area that is not utilized,” Shepard said. “And it just needs a lot of repairs, because not much has been done with it over the years.”

There has been an influx of new residents to the area that the park serves over the past few years, but there hasn’t been investment in the park to match the growing population, Shepard said.

"There's been so much development in our corridor over the past 30 years," Vidales said. He said he hopes to see “the return on investment for what we all pay in taxes in south Phoenix."

The steering committee wants to propose a budget for the master plan by March, Vidales said. The $2.48 million budgeted so far by the city is just a fraction of the funding necessary to complete the master plan, he said.

“We’re hoping, not only that we get this plan approved, but that there’s going to be a budget set aside for it,” he said.

Vidales said his family's priorities are an updated playground with “shade and better playing activities" and a skate park.

The Parks Department is collecting feedback on the proposed master plan until Jan. 27. Residents who live within 3 miles of the park are invited to fill out an online survey.

Madeleine Parrish covers south Phoenix for The Arizona Republic. Reach her at mparrish@arizonarepublic.com and follow her on Twitter @maddieparrish61.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Phoenix wants to hear resident priorities for park near South Mountain