Studies are showing that neighborhoods next to parks are healthier than areas that don’t have access to such spaces. But it’s vital that the parks offer activities for all ages, not just young children. “I was a little bit surprised on what amenities create more or less activity,” Justin said. “I thought a playground would create more activity, but it doesn’t necessarily” The study “definitely opened our eyes about what an active park looks like.” A playground keeps the child active, but often whoever is watching the child just sits on a park bench while the child plays. A park with a walking loop is going to be much more active than simply a playground, for example, because it gives adults something to do at the park as well. The study revealed that the four parks with the fewest active components are:
• Bernard White Park
• Harsha Park
• Hyde Park
• Crescent Park

“Some areas that don’t have great access to parks or green space, those also tend to be the least healthy neighborhoods,” Justin said.

Officials don’t have to look far for an example of how improvements to a small park can revitalize a neighborhood.

In 2015, the Hutchinson Recreation Commission teamed up with the city of Hutchinson, the Hutchinson Community Foundation and the Hutchinson/Reno County Chamber of Commerce to create the Healthy Neighborhood Initiative, which engages residents of neighborhoods around the city to find out ways to make their neighborhoods better.

In most cases, Finlay said, the efforts focused on the existing environment. But the United Way of Reno County was already working in southwest Hutchinson near First and Sherman, “so we overlaid our program on it,” he said.

Technically, a park already existed in that area, Tony said, but all it had was a sign and a couple of benches and an open patch of ground.

United Way secured private donations to pay for a small picnic shelter, a walking path, new signage and a playground.

The park galvanized residents of the neighborhood, which has since been christened with a name: Southwest Bricktown.

“It didn’t have a name before,” Tony said, but now it has an identity.

The park was created before the master plan was drafted, he said, so it scored high in the plan matrix. But it would have earned low scores for amenities and activities in its original state.

Southwest Bricktown Park is instructive, Tony said, because it showed “in just a couple of years, you can take a park from low activity within a neighborhood up to high activity” with the right improvements.

The master plan provides a blueprint of where and how to do that, officials say. They have identified inexpensive ways to make local parks more active by adding such features as walking paths and fitness equipment. Open spaces will be turned into ball fields or places where people can toss a frisbee around.

“How can we make minor modifications to encourage more activity?” Justin asked. “We’re going to take advantage of some low-hanging fruit in 2020.”

The current priority, Tony said, is “to upgrade what’s there. We might find that there’s a need for a new small neighborhood park in certain areas.”