City Council Work Session

Matt Ricego ahead. So first, the Parks Recreation Advisory Board really cares deeply about Van Dyke Park and seeing that it works well. For a decade, I've watched development proposals within the neighborhood and other things that essentially the people presenting, and I as a member of the public watching this happen, were unaware of the connections between a proposal, for instance, at Layton Hall and their neighbors right over the fence. I think this is a central connection between everything happening in the city, the kind of St. Leo's and the Daniel's Run folks transit through the park on a daily basis. It is an important connection. And in the context of Willard Sherwood and activities within that center that may utilize the park,

Speaker 16I was going to say, as a planning commission, we really like to look at things in context of other projects and other things going on. It's just so critical for actually coming up with thoughtful recommendations on proposals, on plans. And so Van Dyke, again, recognizing its criticality and its value and its history with the city, it's also going to be significantly impacted, for better or for worse, by increased usage of the Willard Sherwood property. And so what happens at Willard Sherwood, what that looks like, how people are using it, is also going to have a ripple effect on how people are using Van Dyke. So making sure that the plans and the studies that are going on right now, the community input, all of that engagement of what people really want for the park.