Thank you to everyone who shared feedback at the second public meeting! You can read what we heard here.
Project Background
Storrow Park is one of Lawrence’s oldest parks. The city established the park over 166 years ago to provide residents with a scenic location to enjoy the sweeping views of the city from Prospect Hill. Today, Storrow is a neighborhood park providing active and passive recreation opportunities including a well-used path linking Prospect Hill to downtown Lawrence.
With over 7.6 acres, Storrow Park has a lot of potential to become a great park offering opportunities to increase physical activities for all ages. The park was last renovated in 2001 when five existing tennis courts were replaced with a playground, basketball court, lawn area, and a parking lot. Recognizing that many of these amenities would benefit from targeted renovations, the city, in partnership with Groundwork Lawrence, has secured funding to once again renovate the park in 2020.
Our Process
Throughout the project the team will undertake an equitable and including decision-making process to create a shared vision for the future of Storrow Park. In June of 2019 the project team held a public meeting to hear input from residents on what they would like to see as part of the renovations. Thanks to a large turnout, there were many suggestions and ideas on the future of the park. Children who attended noted the playground is too small and that they want more play structures, different types of creative play, and an area with swings. Adults discussed their desire for a redesigned path system that includes more lightning. Both young and old attendees wanted to make sure renovations to the basketball court were included in the project.
In August 2020, the team held an additional public meeting to hear feedback on final plans. The project has since been opened to bids for construction, with the hope of completing construction in Summer 2021.
Funding for the project is provided by the City of Lawrence (Community Development Block Grant and Capital Improvement Plan) as well as the Commonwealth of Massachusetts PARC Program.
Below images, clockwise from top left (click on the images to enlarge): Existing conditions at Storrow, new plan overview, new plan looking south, new plan looking north
