Lake Forest picks consultant, sets outreach timetable for Kavanaugh Park concept plans

Deputy City Manager McGovern updated the Community Services Commission on Kavanaugh Park planning, saying the city has selected a consultant and expects to sign a contract within about a week to begin outreach and preliminary design work.

McGovern listed three principal planning questions: how to handle the steep hill (including costs to grade and create usable, flat space); what level of foot traffic and activity is appropriate for a neighborhood park; and how to plan in coordination with an upcoming state freeway change that will take a narrow portion of the park near the playground.

McGovern said prior outreach in the neighborhood showed a shift in resident sentiment: whereas years earlier neighbors objected to activating Kavanaugh Park, more recent outreach found residents want the space activated and said activation could improve safety and reduce vagrancy and vandalism. He noted that if grading is feasible and not prohibitively expensive, removing sightlines and hidden areas should reduce the problems staff observed on the hill.

McGovern said staff plans to begin public outreach in July or August and that preliminary concept plans could return to the commission in September or October for feedback. He advised commissioners that the freeway project will only take a “sliver” of Kavanaugh Park near the playground and that the city will coordinate designs so the city does not build improvements likely to be condemned by the state project.

The commission discussed safety and public-visibility concerns; staff said the planning work will include crime-prevention-through-environmental-design (CPTED) review and that outreach will include residents and other stakeholders. No formal action was taken at this meeting; staff said they will return with concept plans and outreach schedules.