Bellfountain County Park Playground & Tree Hazards Project

Playground Updates & Tree Hazards Background

During Summer 2019 Benton County Natural Areas & Parks and Community Health & Equity Team completed 2 public workshops with the Bellfountain/south Benton County community. The public meetings included a Latino families focused meeting, and a general public meeting. During these well attended meetings, families learned about county plans to identify hazard trees and to build a new playground that meets current safety standards. The south Benton County families shared their ideas and learned from county staff, to provide their recommendations on how the projects would occur and what category of playground structure was most desirable from the traditional, nature play, or hybrid traditional/nature play styles. Check out the community input gathered a these public kickoff meetings below!

Project Updates & Next Steps

Current

Review and Provide Public Comments on the Tree Removal & Maintenance here: Start of New Playground Construction, Project Period 2020-2021 (or copy and paste link: https://arcg.is/10HjWe0) . Benton County Natural Areas & Parks is moving forward with the Bellfountain County Park Playground & Tree Hazards Project. During Winter 2021- Spring removal of tree hazards and the current playground will occur.

Note: Spanish version of materials available upon request.

Background

During Summer-Fall 2020 Benton County Parks completed the following work that was planned after the 2019 community events:

-Move forward with a hybrid natural-traditional park structure final design: this was the most desirable category of playground selected by participants in the Bellfountain community meetings.

-During 2019 surveys were completed by county parks, to determine what current and future values and amenities the Bellfountain Park users shared. Determining what input was shared on park updates will be included in final designs for current projects.

-Evaluating park shelter reservations to see if anyone is checking out or using equipment to determine if volleyball or baseball is occurring in park.

-Seek feedback from community on features that should be included in park structure (swings, slides, etc…) after a final working hybrid playground plan is in place.

-Sharing of Tree Hazard Analysis and maps completed by professional private arborists on over 100+ Douglas Fir trees within the park.

-Finalize a draft Tree Hazard Removal Plan and share with community, sharing how this supports playground updates and safety goals.

All community input will be shared and collected during Summer 2020. After sharing the information through the community mailing lists, websites, and in Bellfountain Park kiosks, county parks will move forward with tree hazard removal in the fall/winter and preparation for playground updates.