Re-Imagining a Neighborhood Park
In years gone by you could find neighborhood kids playing in the natural spring at Cold Spring Park in Hillsdale, MI. The spring has since been enclosed by a concrete box with a small stream flowing unannounced toward the park’s pond.
Members of the Hillsdale Kiwanis Club were some of those kids playing in the spring. Remembering those fun times, they decided to celebrate the park’s natural appeal and improve its recreational value.
The full park site plan includes picnic pavilions, playground equipment, walking trails, a splash pad, a restroom, basketball courts, an amphitheater, and a memorial for the late Frank Schaldach, who was instrumental in the original vision of redeveloping the park.
The site plan for the park also calls for daylighting the natural spring and celebrating this feature, for which the park was named. An aerating fountain will be installed to improved the water quality of the existing pond while runoff from a nearby street will be redirected from entering the pond and naturally filtered before it enters the watershed.
The Kiwanis Club plans to construct the park improvements in phases as grants are awarded and funding becomes available.
