Concern over parking safety at neighborhood park in Alabama Hill

 

Highland Heights Park is seen through the vegetation on the side of the curb lining the park.

Some residents say the vegetation causes of safety hazard for those trying to drop-off children at the park.

Residents are concerned with the lack of safe parking at Highland Heights Park, yet the city says it has not heard enough complaints to take action.
 
“The lack of parking keeps people away from the park because it is dangerous to get your children out of a car on the street side,” said Alabama Hill resident Diane Bates, adding that the vegetation lining the curb obstructs potential parking spaces. “I have friends who brought their grandchildren to the park to meet me but found the parking situation too bad to return.”
 
According to city documents, Highland Heights Park is considered a neighborhood park warranting two to 10 parking spaces for the public grounds with the intent of serving mainly neighborhood foot traffic. The park, located on Vining Street in Alabama Hill, stretches approximately 200 feet along the curb, allowing for a potential dozen cars to fit in front of the park. Due to the vegetation, there is room for two average-sized cars to park along the curb without obstruction.
 
“Because neighborhood parks primarily serve the neighborhood and people walk to the park, most of the city’s neighborhood parks do not have drop-off zones or parking lots,” said Marvin Harris, the parks operations manager for the city’s Parks and Recreation Department, adding that he’s not aware of concerns regarding parking or a drop-off zone at the park.
 
Dean Haskins, president of the Alabama Hill Neighborhood Association, has heard complaints from residents about the parking situation at the park due to excess vegetation on the curb.
 
“Since the plants between the road and the park were designed to be native or wild, they are tall and invasive and even in to the street a bit,” he said. “This hinders cars being able to pull up to park at the curb and drop off or pickup. It is also difficult to see who or what is on the other side of the vegetation, which is troublesome for many.”
 
Though Harris has talked to a resident who indicated the vegetation decreases visibility into the park, he says the plants in front of the park are not a problem.
 
“The park site is not flat; the property slopes from the back of the park towards the street,” he said. “If you are along the opposite side of the street from the park, you can readily see into the park.”
 
Bates has contacted the city about this issue several times in the last two years, and she says the city denies there is a problem.
 
“Anyone can see there is a problem getting out of a vehicle on the passenger side, where you could safely take a child out of a car,” she said, adding that the Alabama Hill Neighborhood Association supports her on this issue. “Hopefully, through the association, the city may take us seriously and correct the flawed design so that this park can be used more fully and safely.”
 
Haskins says the association has taken this issue up with the city “indirectly” and is “working on [it] now.”
 
According to Harris, the city will consider addressing this issue if complaints about the park are raised to the Parks and Recreation Department.
 
“If this concern is brought forward with details regarding the problems, the staff will review and respond,” he said. “Any park user is welcome to contact the Parks and Recreation Department regarding concerns or problems with parks or service. Staff would want to be sure that a problem exists for park users and if so, develop the best solution possible within constraints of current or future budget cycles in necessary.”
 
In 2010, the city renovated the park using more than $70,000 of funding from the Real Estate Excise Tax. This included rebuilding the playground, painting stripes on the basketball court, and constructing a pathway between the park and nearby Illinois Lane.
 
Haskins says the Alabama Hill Neighborhood Association contributed to the renovation process.
 
“As a neighborhood association, we worked directly with Parks Department in recommendations and purchases for the park,” he said.
 
Highland Heights Park is open daily from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. and includes such amenitites as a basketball court, picnic table, open space, and play equipment.