Urban design firm BHA Design Inc. has developed two preliminary plans for a future Buffalo Creek Park in northwest Wellington.

The park designers presented sketches of their ideas at a special meeting of the Wellington Planning Commission on March 15. The park is bounded by Washington Avenue on the south, Buffalo Creek Parkway on the west, Boxelder Creek on the east and undeveloped park area on the north. About a half dozen community members attended and provided comments.

BHA has the task of incorporating certain elements in the park, including baseball and multi-purpose athletic fields, play areas for children of various ages, picnic shelters, restrooms, tennis courts, a dog park, trails, a BMX track and adequate parking — all coordinated aesthetically and with optimized traffic flow.

Both concepts have ball fields to the south, dog parks to the north, and other elements spread between, working around a necessary retention pond, existing batting cages and a maintenance area. The existing BMX track may not remain where it’s currently located.

Community members raised the following issues: Make sure young children have sufficient play area, insure the safety of children near proposed variations of the retention pond, provide baseball field orientation best for player performance, and minimize light pollution for nearby housing. Residents also wanted to make sure any special climbing or “cave” areas proposed in earth berms will not become rattlesnake havens.

Planning commission chairman Chuck Mayhugh brought up several concerns. He thought the proposed parking area near the ball fields might be too close to Washington Avenue and that the arrangement of street parking might drive too much traffic through the Buffalo Creek residential area. He also raised concerns about water availability for a splash park feature and future costs for the maintenance of various landscaping options. Mayhugh noted the lack of pedestrian access from residences south across the irrigation ditch. Regarding the latter, town administrator Larry Lorentzen mentioned that an access had been left out of this draft because of funding issues.

The chairman also suggested BHA consider an “out-of-the-box” possibility of rerouting the flow of Boxelder Creek, which might provide additional real estate.

Overall, the committee reached a consensus on many features in Concept 1, perhaps rescuing an amphitheatre idea from Concept 2, consolidating the sport field areas to include some parking internal to the park, and taking a second look at the design and arrangement of the pond and water features. They also discussed the possibility of powering the restrooms with solar energy.

BHA will present one revised concept to a work session that includes the town board and the planning commission at a still-to-be-determined date. Because this project cannot be funded all at once, BHA will propose phases in the construction process that will be dictated by the availability of grants and use requirements.

In general, everyone present seemed pleased with the progress made and looked forward to a project that will serve large segments of the Wellington community.

For information or to provide comments, call Wellington Town Hall at 568-3381.