Oakwood updates Wander/Jordan Promenade plans; council raises questions about playground size and park parking

Oakwood Homes and its design team presented proposed amendments to the Wander/Jordan Promenade community plan and detailed designs for a 30‑acre Riverfront Park during a Saratoga Springs City Council work session, and council members asked the developer to clarify parking, playground size and long‑term architectural controls.

Presenters said land‑use changes are primarily driven by the Pioneer Crossing roadway alignment. The team proposed converting a two‑acre commercial parcel near the Pioneer Crossing alignment to residential and moving the community commercial designation to another intersection; the church’s meetinghouse location would be consolidated and expanded to a stake center. Project representatives said the total approved unit count for the community remains unchanged. "From a total homes in the community perspective and density, the density is not changing," a designer said.

Oakwood and its planners described multiple specific park features: a roughly one‑mile main concrete trail, three public parking lots (north, central and south) providing about 207 stalls, three restroom facilities, a kayak launch, a "great lawn" intended for larger events and multiple small and large sheltered seating areas along the trail. The design team said they had increased several pedestrian access corridor widths and replaced a culverted drainage with an open drainage channel to expand usable open space.

The developer said park programming will include play areas, a large playground near the amenity center (about 11,000 square feet in the plan presented) and multiple smaller trail shelters. "This is the crown jewel of our project in my opinion. It's the Riverfront Park. It's 30 acres of a pretty robust, amenity package," a design firm principal said.

Council members pressed several points. Multiple council members expressed concern that the playground area shown in the new plan (about 11,000 square feet) is smaller than earlier concept materials they remembered; one council member said the previous conceptual figure for play areas looked closer to 54,000 square feet. The council asked whether additional playground area could be restored and whether park maintenance responsibilities and sight lines would allow for safe use and policing of playgrounds.

The presenters said the park plan was developed in coordination with city staff, parks and recreation and law enforcement. They noted changes were made to improve surveillability and public access, and they said public parking and restroom placement were located to provide convenient oversight and maintenance. The team also noted increases in open space percentages: Village 2 open space rose from about 12.6 percent to about 13 percent, and Village 3 from about 22 percent to about 24.3 percent in the proposed amendments.

The work session also included a detailed set of architectural controls Oakwood is proposing for remaining village home products: more elevation options, minimum masonry/wainscot requirements for street‑facing facades, limits on long rows of attached townhomes (no more than six attached units in a row), and added diversity of product sizes. Developers said these prescriptive standards are intended to avoid past problems in other phases when product controls were not enforced.

Why it matters: The park design and village plan changes will affect how residents access the Jordan River corridor, where public parking and restrooms are located, and what homes and streetscapes look like as the remainder of Wander develops.

What to watch for: Oakwood will return with formal plat and site‑plan applications that will specify final playground equipment, shelter designs and the phasing schedule for the park and public improvements. Council members asked staff and the developer to revisit playground area and parking sizing before final approvals.