Residents can share their ideas at a community design workshop on September 14.
SANTA ANA, Calif. – The time has come to reimagine Memorial Park and the various ways it serves the community. The aquatics facility at the park is the original 1956 installation and the City needs community input to design a new facility that meets the current needs of our residents.
The City of Santa Ana is partnering with the award-winning design firm combination of ELS Architecture + Urban Design and SWA Landscape Architects (ELS+SWA) to collaborate on a new Master Plan for the City’s Memorial Park, which will include a new concept for the Memorial Park Aquatic Center. The total funding available for the Phase I Aquatic Center component is $12 million targeting a complete design by summer 2024 and the community diving into the water in spring 2026. The project will be partially funded by American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds under the City’s Revive Santa Ana initiative.
Please join us for a community workshop on Thursday, September 14, 2023, from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at the Jerome Center, 726 S. Center St., Santa Ana. During the workshop, design ideas for the Memorial Park Master Plan and the new Aquatic Center will be shown. Community members will gather around tables of 10 to provide design feedback and ideas that will then be reviewed by City staff and the ELS+SWA design team.
The first in-person community workshop to reimagine Memorial Park was held on August 24, 2023, at the Jerome Center. At the workshop, the community walked through a gallery of 10 exhibit boards with an array of information about the project. By each board, a member of the ELS+SWA design team or City of Santa Ana staff were stationed to answer community questions. If you missed the first workshop, or will not be able to attend our upcoming one, you can still give us your input by taking the survey at https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/MemorialParkWorkshop1.
The Design Feedback survey includes images of the ten gallery boards that were placed around Jerome gym with a comment box associated with each image. The final board of the Gallery Walk had questions for the community including types of amenities desired at the park, favorite memories, preference on a single 50-meter pool versus two pools where one is competitive and one has fun water features, etc. Please share any questions or comments for City staff and the design team to review.
Help us create an all-inclusive park design and aquatic center that will meet the needs of babies through seniors for generations to come. For more details and information, visit https://www.santa-ana.org/memorial-park-pool-reimagined/.
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About Santa Ana
Santa Ana is downtown for the world-famous Orange County, California. It is the County Seat and home to a vibrant evening scene and arts community. Over 1,400 City employees work hard every day to deliver efficient public services in partnership with our community to ensure public safety, a prosperous economic environment, opportunities for our youth, and a high quality of life for residents. Learn more at www.santa-ana.org.