Roanoke Park Improvements

[Midtownkid]

I Didn't see a Roanoke Park forum so I started this one.

Roanoke has seen a lot of improvement in the last few years. Lots of invasive plants have been cut back and replaced with native plants. The bluffs are now visible. Hufft projects opened new offices in an old warehouse just north of the park. His building also houses a new gym. I think apartments of planned for the park-facing east side of the building

The old playground in the western park of the park has been replaced with a much larger one, near the outcropping. The other playground on Karnes, near Coleman Highlands will be replaced soon by a thoughtfully designed one. (Hufft Projects I believe.)

According to Roanoke Park Conservancy: http://www.roanokeparkkc.org/plans/mast ... ng-session

"We heard you loud and clear and we want to make our Karnes site one of great creativity and beauty. "

The Coleman Highland Spring is being restored. Work is underway today!

http://www.roanokeparkkc.org/plans/plan ... nds-spring



It's great to see these kinds of projects restoring the city's parks to pristine condition. I was astonished to see how little money was needed to complete this project. The grant was for 3,500 and private donations were 1,500. All they needed was $5,000 (and volunteer labor.)

The parks department needs to chase after more donations if the city won't increase their budget.

[chaglang]

Thanks for posting this. The park looks better than it has in decades.

[brewcrew1000]

This park is my favorite in the city, we did the trail back in the fall and it was great. 99% of suburbanites and a good amount of people who live in the city don't even really know this park exists. The KC Crew Rec Sports had done a great job putting events on at this park. I know they host Sand Volleyball, and Soccer at this park, i think they host a couple other events here as well

[flyingember]

99% of suburbanites and a good amount of people who live in the city don't even really know this park exists.

that's because it's a pain to get there if you don't know how. I'm quite good at navigating around KC and it's one of those places I can be within two blocks of an entrance and still have to consult a map.

[chaglang]

99% of suburbanites and a good amount of people who live in the city don't even really know this park exists.

that's because it's a pain to get there if you don't know how. I'm quite good at navigating around KC and it's one of those places I can be within two blocks of an entrance and still have to consult a map.

The total lack of signage directing people to the park isn't helping that. It's one of the few Kessler-era parks that doesn't have frontage on a major road.

[brewcrew1000]

This park should be listed on those Blue District informational signs, place it right at SW Trafficway and Karnes, 39th Street, you could even put one on 31st and Roanoake. Even though its hard to get into the park there sure is a lot of ways to enter that park.

[Midtownkid]

Clearing out the brush / invasive species makes such a huge difference.

Compare 2007:




to 2011:

[beautyfromashes]

^^^ This was a main reason I stopped taking my family to that park. There was always homeless people in the park that would stay in the brush. When they weren't opening shooting up at the picnic tables, they would be in the bushes. Never felt safe.

[Midtownkid]

There is an awesome place to view the park at Valentine and 37th. It was always an overgrown mess when I was growing up. We took a small trail down to the Community Center, it seemed kind of mysterious. Now there is a well done staircase ascending the bluff and all the brush is gone. It does seem a but more barren, but also more beautiful. If you look at old postcards of the parks the bluffs were always exposed and plantings were sparse.

You can't even tell how great the view is here in 2007:



Now's it very scenic and safer, 2011:

[Midtownkid]

Just wanted to post a few of my pictures from the spring project and elsewhere in the park.

Here is the hillside that has been cleared of brush. Trust me, you could never see that deep into the trees:



Here is view of the spring. It was actually quite impressive. The hillside is quite steep there and there is a descent amount of water-flow. Beware, the ground adjacent the spring is deceivingly soft and muddy. haha





They have created a new path on the hill across Karnes from this area with a bench where you can sit and see the spring (behind the tree in the pic). They have installed great new sidewalk lights, too.



They have cleaned up many of the park edges. Here is a winding parkway going down into the park. You can see this from SW Trafficway now.



We need this kind of cleanup in other city parks!

[moderne]

It is looking great, but its going to take a lot of continuous effort to keep it clear(and I hope they don't use herbicides as in Penn Valley). Shrub honeysuckle is the kudzu of Missouri. When I had the house in Briarcliff I had a small 20x40 area that was so densely shaded the orginal sodded grass died off. I roped it off and had the lawn service cease mowing it to return it to a natural state. I planted native plants and ephemerals. But I had to go out at least once a month during growing season to pull up shrub honeysuckle shoots. Lots of bending and stooping. The remarkable thing was that the closest stand of rampant honeysuckle was 2 lots and a street away. Guess the birds must poop out the seeds.

[rxlexi]

Yep, looking great. I went to the Community Center gym for most of 2014 and the changes have been incredible from years past. New hiking trails wind through the woods. Rain gardens. Cleared bluffs. Lots of programmed activity (sports, volleyball, etc.).

IMO it is a model for how to bring KC parks (hilly, densely wooded, winding parkways, open space) into the 21st century.

We need to see these types of improvements at Gillham and Penn Valley Parks, specifically. Lots of well-lit walking paths in the central areas, hiking/mtn biking trails through cleared woods along the bluffs (i.e. using all of that dense woodland space and views instead of sitting overgrown), mix of open space and activity centers, native plantings.

[flyingember]

Swope has all the same problems and then some. It has issues with disconnected areas. West of the railroad, to get from 63rd to Gregory in the park is best done by using 435 or walking through the woods.

This park should be listed on those Blue District informational signs, place it right at SW Trafficway and Karnes, 39th Street, you could even put one on 31st and Roanoake. Even though its hard to get into the park there sure is a lot of ways to enter that park.

I just noticed that the only way to the park is to not use SW Trafficway if coming from the south. that's most of the problem with access.

[FangKC]

I hate stands of woods that have so much undergrowth in them that you just give up and go home. I live a block off Gladstone Boulevard and our end of North Terrace Park (east of where Cliff Drive rejoins Gladstone) is so thick you can't walk through it, which bums me out. There supposedly a trail down there somewhere but I've yet to find it.

They have built good wide walking trails on the western end though, and I hope they will eventually get them done on our end.

[beautyfromashes]

New Coleman Highlands park is now open. Has a zip line, huge climbing mountain and multiple big slides.

[missingkc]

Is the new park a homeowners' association amenity or open to the general public?

[beautyfromashes]

It's a public park, so open to everyone I believe.

[aknowledgeableperson]

"West of the railroad, to get from 63rd to Gregory in the park is best done by using 435 or walking through the woods."

West of the railroad take Lewis Road to Wild Cat Hollow Drive which becomes 67th east of the railroad then south on Manchester, west on 69th then south on Ewing Ave to Gregory.
Wild Cat Hollow Drive is quite a drive.

Go a little further west then take Yates Drive to Starlight Road to Zoo Drive, Mall Dr, south on Elmwood to Gregory.

Years ago it was much easier before the Zoo expansion because Lewis Road would take one to Gregory from 63rd. With the hills, Blue River, the Zoo and the terrain and the park's natural state there isn't much one can do for thru roadways.

[chingon]

They could easily connect Wild Cat Hollow to Swope Memorial.

I'd also like to see them plant the vast majority of the lawns on the west side of the park with native grasses with walking/jogging/bicycle paths, as I also would like to see the divided parkway and BLVD medians planted in natives with bike lanes down the middles.

But all this belongs in another thread...

[rxlexi]

I hate stands of woods that have so much undergrowth in them that you just give up and go home. I live a block off Gladstone Boulevard and our end of North Terrace Park (east of where Cliff Drive rejoins Gladstone) is so thick you can't walk through it, which bums me out. There supposedly a trail down there somewhere but I've yet to find it.

They have built good wide walking trails on the western end though, and I hope they will eventually get them done on our end.

Fang, if you head down past the Cliff Drive gates from Gladstone Boulevard by the Museum (northwest), you can pick up the trail on your left just as the road is curving left down to the Drive. You can also head to the right as it winds along the bluff and back up the hill towards the Castle House but a lot of that section is still being completed.

If you head west on the trail you can travel quite a ways, past the eternal flame memorial and then on over across the Chestnut bridge, and then back into woods winding down towards the lake on cliff drive, then up again across the disc golf course and along the bluffs all the way over to the far western side of Kessler Park.

Keep in mind the trail is narrow singletrack with some substantial elevation changes and terrain (roots, rock, etc.).

You can find a few maps here - http://forums.earthriders.com/viewtopic ... 34&t=20293