Parks and green spaces are the new tool for neighborhood marketing, the quality of life component we now know affects the people who work in an area as much as the people who live there.
Woodchase Park in the Westchase area is one of the city’s newest community parks. Located off Woodchase Drive between Westpark Drive and Westpark Tollway, it was designed by the office of James Burnett Landscape Architecture and Natalye Appel + Associates, both of whom worked on the redesign of Levy Park within the Loop.
Woodchase is only 1.75 acres but contains native plants, 75 trees, pavilions, public restrooms, play and fitness areas, and a dog park. It’s also getting into yet another movement in the parks and aerobics scene, serving as a focal point for people walking paths from one park to the next.
Parks and nature centers like Memorial Park, Hermann Park, and Discovery Green have always had a lot of visitors, but in the coronavirus pandemic, people are looking for outdoor alternatives to exercise — not to mention fresh air and sunshine — becoming essential.
Irma Sanchez, vice president of projects for the West Chase District, said a survey of Houston’s parks showed that the West Chase District was a “park poor.” .
The land was purchased in 2016 by the City of Houston for $1.2 million and a planning, design and construction cost of another $4.5 million, paid for by a variety of funding sources. Its annual maintenance and operations budget is $225,000.
The precinct has 30,000 people who go to the Westchase area to work, as well as 6,500 families — half of whom are rentals — within a one-mile radius of the park, but Sanchez and communications director Chester Jacinto wondered if anyone would attend the park’s grand opening. garden. About 500 people attended, and three days later, they had a trick-or-treat event, and 700 children and adults — and some dogs, too — attended.
“It’s our feeling, since we opened, that this garden has become the backyard, front yard, and patio space for the people who live here,” Jacinto said, noting a fair amount of multi-family dwellings where there is no communal green space. “They can let the kids run and get their energy or enjoy the sunlight and the programs we have.”
Another green space for the area, Wilcrest Park, is in the fundraising and planning stages, and Sanchez said they hope to award bids for that 3.5-acre park on the west side of Beltway 8 in early 2022, and expire in 2023.
Under the cover of an outdoor pavilion, visitors to Woodchase can also attend yoga, Zumba, tai chi or aerobics camps – among the more than 300 events and activities that will be planned each year. Chess players gather on Sundays and programs such as writers appear in schools and young audiences in Houston.
Corten steel containers house an herb garden, and anyone who visits the garden is free to mow a little rosemary, basil, or whatever else they’re growing. Otherwise, the herbs are offered for free at the farmers market.
Cameras provide 24/7 monitoring, and security is on hand when there’s a program in place. Sanchez said all software is free.
There are separate playgrounds for children and dogs, each with half-areas on which to jump and small “hills” with artificial turf on a rubber foundation. Kids can descend on a wide sliver of poured concrete or cool off in a large drizzle ring during hot weather. The dog park is pressure washed daily.
Sanchez said the park has about 75 trees, including large crape myrtle trees that were already on the site and 17 tall live oaks that were salvaged after they were removed from Westheimer to enable the pier project there. Some came to Woodchase Park and some will go to Wilcrest Park.
diane.cowen@chron.com