Pioneer Park

Park renovation breathes new life into community gathering space

In 2011, the City of Mesa Parks, Recreation and Commercial Facilities Department began the process of developing a master plan for its parks. And the first project of the master plan was a renovation of Pioneer Park.

“We wanted to re-energize the park,” explained Andrea Moore, parks administrator at City of Mesa Parks, Recreation and Commercial Facilities Department. “We wanted to bring more activity to the core of this park.”

After a park bond was approved by voters in 2012, the Pioneer Park project moved forward. In addition to adding a 9,000 square-foot playground, a splash pad and planting 130 trees, park officials tended to the historic trees, updated historic monuments and restored the Southern Pacific train car, which has been a pillar of the park for generations.

Engaging the whole community

Pioneer Park played host to many large-scale events, neighborhood park-type events and everything in between, so the layout of the park was important.

The original playground was positioned on the east side of the park near the Southern Pacific train car; the proximity of the two had raised questions about whether the train car was part of the play space. Additionally, multi-family housing is located on the west side of the park, and park planners wanted to easily bring those kids into the play space as well as the whole community.

"We wanted to keep the character of the park but bring more positive activity.” Andrea Moore, parks administrator, City of Mesa Parks, Recreation and Commercial Facilities Department

The result? The plan included moving the playground to the west side of Pioneer Park.

“We tried to come up with intergenerational play opportunities to engage the whole community,” said Moore. “That was the whole premise behind the park design.”

Ideas become reality

“We have a lot of old-growth trees here… some of the oldest and biggest in the city,” explained Moore. “And we wanted to encourage people to play in the trees, and that was the whole idea behind the playground design.”

The inspiration for the playground design was the three types of trees found in the park—pistache, palm and pine. Collaboration between Landscape Structures and Dig Studio led to the creation of playground towers that mimicked the surrounding trees.

"What Landscape Structures and Dig Studio did with our ideas—first they were a drawing on paper, and now it’s here in the ground."

“We talked a lot about how to get parents and grandparents interacting with the kids and not just sitting on the benches watching from the sidelines,” said Moore. “That started the idea generation for the elevated walkway.”

The elevated walkway, which flows through the entire play space, is completely ADA accessible and provides entryways into each of the playstructures.

Even more, it delivers a “walk among the trees” feel to users.

Back for more play

Pioneer Park has been a gathering space for generations of families. And now that the renovation is complete, those same families are back for more fun. The park has become a vibrant and interactive place to be since its reopening. The community has responded positively to it.

"It’s been fascinating to hear people talk about the new features bringing back their childhood memories of the park, and how happy they are to bring their own kids.” Chad Atterbury, senior associate partner, Dig Studio

“I love that we were able to merge nature and play together,” said Moore, “especially in an urban setting like this where kids don't always get the opportunity to go out and see other parts of the state and country.”