Community Outreach

9 Community Outreach

BPRW reached spread the word about upcoming public workshops with signage in the park, postcards, and social media and front porch forum posts

Community Outreach

In addition to site analysis and data review, the design team sought to receive as much public input as possible throughout the design process. This was achieved through two surveys, small focus group discussions, on-site tabling, and three virtual workshops.

Community Questionnaire

In April 2021, a digital Community Questionnaire was published to give the community a chance to weigh in on Calahan Park. Questions sought feedback on a wide variety of topics to understand who is using the park, how it is being used, what works well, and what could be improved. 188 responses were recorded giving the design team a strong understanding of how the community uses and feels about Calahan park.

Most of the people who completed the survey were park neighbors (93% live within a mile) and an overwhelming number of them shared the sentiment that Calahan Park is a wonderful neighborhood resource. They also offered clear feedback for which areas could benefit most from an update: the playground, site circulation, restrooms, picnic areas/ benches, drainage and basketball courts being among the most common responses.

Focus Groups

With the goal to hear from as many stakeholders as possible, BPRW gathered three focus groups to represent athletic (basketball, baseball, community rink, and soccer), academic, and garden stakeholders, as well as a fourth focus group of City employees (DPW, BPRW) to discuss park maintenance, stormwater, and transportation considerations. These groups each participated virtually in small group discussions with Offshoots early in the design process. Notes from these discussions can be found in Appendix B. The feedback from these groups built upon the site analysis and community questionnaire to provide a strong understanding of how the existing site is used, what is working and what can be improved at Calahan Park.

Community Questionnaire (188 Responses)

Focus Groups (16 Attendees) Virtual Public Workshop #1 (40 Attendees) Virtual Public Workshop #2 (22 Attendees) Online Concept Survey (103 Individuals) On-site Concept Survey (25 Forms - 6 days) BPRW Additional Small Group Outreach

Summary of outreach and community members reached throughout the planning process

Concept Menu Survey

After site analysis was completed and initial outreach conducted, the design team developed a series of four concept plans for the park. These plans were developed to be a kit-ofparts, a series of design elements that the public could pick and choose from to generate a full park comprehensive plan. Rather than having the community pick between two potential park concepts, the design team asked a series of questions relating to the public preference on optional amenities and their locations. To reach as many stakeholders as possible the menu was presented at a virtual workshop using Zoom polls to select elements, was posted as a survey online, and design team and BPRW staff performed on-site outreach. The concept menu graphics, questions, and a full summary of the survey results can be found in Appendix C. Each format used the same questions and sequence to provide comparable results across outreach methods.

Virtual Workshops

BPRW hosted three public workshops to gather community feedback at key points in the design process. Due to the ongoing pandemic the workshops were held virtually over Zoom. Meeting notes from the three workshops can be

Community Outreach 10

Site analysis findings were presented at the first virtual workshop

Zoom poll results during the second virtual workshop

Screenshots from the second virtual workshop found in Appendix B. The meetings were recorded and can be viewed on the BPRW website Calahan Park project page (https://enjoyburlington.com/calahan-park-master-plan/). The first public workshop, held on May 13th, 2021, focused on summarizing the existing conditions of the park. The design team presented findings from the Community Questionnaire along with site analysis focusing on the site history, circulation, programming, soils, stormwater management, ecology, and vegetation. Throughout the presentation the public was asked to participate through Zoom polls designed to gather additional feedback about the existing park. Following the presentation, the design team and BPRW facilitated a small group activity in breakout rooms. Each group was asked to map out on a diagram what currently works at the park, what doesn’t work, and what are the opportunities for improvements. The breakout groups presented their findings to the full workshop and the meeting wrapped up with Q&A. The second virtual workshop, held on August 5th, included a summary of the previous work presented at the first meeting, the comprehensive plan goals developed based on the feedback received to date, and a presentation of the concept menu. Throughout the concept menu portion of the presentation, the public was asked to provide feedback in real time through Zoom polls. The meeting culminated in an open Q&A session with the community, BPRW staff, and the design team.

The third virtual workshop, held on December 1st, 2021, summarized the design process beginning with an overview of the community outreach and covering the planning goals and proposed comprehensive plan developed. At the end of the presentation, the public, design team and BPRW had a community feedback and Q&A session to discuss the proposed comprehensive plan. Feedback was compiled to be integrated into the final comprehensive plan.

Reviewing the comprehensive plan at the third workshop

On-site tabling for the Concept Menu Survey