Council members praise Parkapalooza engagement for Southwest Chaska Park design

Council members on May 19 described an all-day public engagement event, dubbed Parkapalooza, that gathered resident and city-department input on design options for the Southwest Chaska Park and said the city will combine favored components from multiple concept plans into a final design.

Council Member Grama said Parkapalooza drew planners and staff from across the city and produced three lead concepts; the city will not ask the public to choose one plan but will instead ask which components participants prefer so planners can combine favored elements into a final design. “What components of the plans do you like the most? So that we can bring them together,” Grama said.

Council members and staff said the public-engagement process will include large public events — Fire & Ice and River City Days — as primary opportunities to solicit more community feedback, plus other engagement channels. Staff said the exercise also highlighted consistent layout patterns across concepts driven by the site’s topography, which helped planners identify preferred locations for major elements.

Council members called the Parkapalooza approach ‘‘smart’’ for bringing multiple city departments into the conversation, noting that parks touch maintenance, public works, emergency services, finance and others. Council members also encouraged residents to watch for boards and public meetings as the park design moves to subsequent outreach steps.