Designed to the Fullest : On Fewer Than 10 Acres, a New Park Offers Basketball, Tennis and More

Much can be done with 10 acres of land.

In Simi Valley, Whittaker Corp. employs 450 people and manufactures electronics. In Camarillo, Phil McGrath grows organic corn on his 10 acres.

But in Oak Park, planners have managed to tastefully cram a basketball court, two tennis courts, a baseball field, two playgrounds, a volleyball pit and a utility building replete with restrooms onto 9.8 acres of parkland.

“We got a lot of elements in a tiny area,” said Kathy Blansett, a planner with the Rancho Simi Recreation and Park District, which dedicated its newest park Tuesday.

The design of Indian Springs Neighborhood Park mirrors the two other small neighborhood parks in Oak Park and stands in contrast to typical park planning, which holds that large community parks should house sports-related complexes and that the smaller parks should provide mostly open space.

“We did a fliperoo,” district spokesman Rick Johnson said. He said because the 38-acre Oak Canyon Park contains a creek, hilly terrain and trees, the park district decided to place tennis and basketball courts in Oak Park’s three smaller parks, each of which is smaller than 10 acres.

“It was decided not to lay waste to the oak trees and stream beds,” Johnson said.

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So with that in mind, planners Tuesday unveiled Oak Park’s third and probably last neighborhood park for several years.

Though 10 years in the planning, the Indian Springs Neighborhood Park at Rockfield Street and Hawthorne Drive officially opened six months ahead of schedule.

“We just got lucky,” said Chuck Wernke, a spokesman for the contractors of the project, American Landscape. “We got in before the rains.”

But just barely.

Jeff Hamlin, principal at Red Oak Elementary School adjacent to the park, chided park officials good-naturedly for the sunken, sand-filled volleyball court that was under half a foot of water because of the recent rains.

“We have a wading pool in the volleyball court and the boys and girls have certainly enjoyed it,” he said to the laughter of about 50 parents who turned out for the dedication ceremony Tuesday afternoon. “We have the wet shoes and socks to show for it.”

More than 200 of the elementary school students fidgeted in their tiny plastic seats set up in the baseball diamond as a series of school and park officials took turns at the lectern praising the project.

“I can’t think of a better relationship than a park being placed next to a school,” said Sue Walden, a teacher at Red Oak.

Nearby, preschoolers clambered over the new playground equipment, oblivious to the noontime dedication ceremony. Their parents were more impressed with the wood chip surface of the playground than with the day’s speakers.

“Wood chips are better than sand,” said Oak Park resident Janice Koehler as her 4-year-old son Alex headed toward the jungle gym. “His tennis shoes don’t fill up as quickly.”

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About 30 feet away, park district board Chairman James L. Meredith told the crowd: “I don’t expect just to see kids in this park. It’s also for the casual user.”

He said that with the addition of the two tennis courts, Oak Park “now has more tennis courts than the rest of the park district.”

The park was completed late last week and scores of parents and children have flocked to it since.

“It looks like it is going to be real crowded,” said Agoura resident Mary Kopinski, who kept watch over her 3- and 4-year-old sons playing in the wood chips. She said the park has two drawbacks: not enough benches and shade.

“I don’t think anyone will be out here in the summer,” Koehler said. But for now, both agreed the park is a much-needed addition to the neighborhood.