Parks commission recommends John D. Winter Centennial Park master plan to Board of Supervisors

The Carson City Parks and Recreation Commission voted to recommend the John D. Winter Centennial Park Master Plan to the Board of Supervisors after extended public comment and staff presentations.

The master plan lays out a long-term redesign of the upper and lower portions of Centennial Park, including new multiuse athletic fields, reconfigured parking, a proposed dog park, a promenade for vendors and spectator space, expanded pedestrian connectivity and a conceptual area for a bike park. The commission’s formal recommendation passed unanimously; the motion’s mover and seconder were not specified on the record and no roll-call tally was given.

Why it matters: the plan aims to address recurring field and parking shortages cited by local sports organizers, to protect investment in recently rebuilt facilities and to resolve ongoing stormwater and erosion issues that have damaged park assets in recent years.

Staff and stakeholder input: Nick Whitworth, Parks project manager, told commissioners the planning process began with a September public survey and multiple stakeholder meetings that included youth-sports organizers, the archery club, the contracted golf course operator and local advocacy groups such as Muscle Powered (bike advocates) and the Carson City Disc Golf volunteers. He outlined key elements: three lower-level multiuse fields that could host youth football and soccer, an expanded and better-distributed parking footprint, a new concession/restroom node and a potential user-group storage building to store athletic gear.

Public comment focused heavily on a proposed bike park and on expanding year‑round playable space via turf fields. Multiple speakers urged the commission to approve the plan and to allow the bike‑park concept to expand beyond the initially identified parcel. Dan Thornton, board member of Muscle Powered and founder of Ride Carson City, described an eight‑year advocacy effort and urged approval. Emily Coleman, a volunteer coach with the NICA mountain biking team, described potential benefits for health, youth development and local tourism: “My family alone, a family of 5, we go up to the Truckee Bike Park, to the South Tahoe Bike Park. We spend time there. We stay in a hotel. We eat at a restaurant, and we do different things that we would love to be doing here instead.”

Infrastructure priorities and constraints: Whitworth emphasized that drainage design to protect investments — including the $6 million synthetic turf project and newly replaced tennis courts — is the top priority. He and design consultants flagged major underground utilities, including two gas pipelines crossing portions of the lower hill, which limit how deep the city can excavate and which shape where detention basins and any bike‑park features can go. Whitworth said the drainage work “has to come first” to protect the park’s assets and that negotiations with utility owners were ongoing.

Design features: the plan shows turf or grass pods totaling several thousand square feet, relocated and improved restroom and concession infrastructure, a proposed dog park across the road from the main entrance, and a “promenade” area designed with power/water hookups for vendors and food trucks during tournaments. The plan also calls for dispersing parking rather than concentrating it at one end of the complex to ease pedestrian access to multiple fields.

Next steps: the commission’s recommendation goes to the Board of Supervisors for final consideration. Whitworth said some construction activity will begin separately — notably baseball/softball work on the upper fields — while the city continues 90% design-level work on drainage and coordinates with Southwest Gas and other utilities.

Ending: Commissioners praised the outreach and encouraged continued public involvement as the plan moves toward the Board of Supervisors; one commissioner offered to coordinate an introduction to the school board to expand collaboration for youth programming and access.