With a desire to support and give back to their community, landscape architecture firm Coyle & Caron offered their time and design services to the City of Orlando Parks Division's GreenUp Orlando program in the summer of 2019. Created to increase available tree canopy throughout the city and improve the appearance of the community, the program encourages planting trees and shrubs while promoting volunteer efforts and contributions. It was decided they would come together to revitalize Ivey Lane Park, located in an undeserved neighborhood in Orlando adjacent to Ivey Lane Elementary School.

 

Once on site, it was apparent a stormwater management plan was required including the planting of a wetland buffer to improve water absorption and treatment within areas of the park. Collaborating with the city's Parks staff and Stormwater Division along with the Ivey Lane Community Center Manager, an opportunity was created to educate the community through sustainable features while renewing the park which holds summer programs and after school care for children. The new park's designs included a demonstration raingarden, pollinator plantings with signage to teach about their importance, a community food garden plot, the redesign of an existing amphitheater and increased shade in play areas.

Plantings and installations for the park were done during the NFL's 2019 Pro Bowl Week as an NFL Green project, part of the National Football League's Environmental program for the Pro Bowl, with donations from the NFL and Verizon. Volunteers included members from the community, students from Ivey Lane Elementary School and local high school football players from Maynard Evans High School and Jones High School, as well as Verizon Green Team volunteers and soldiers from the U.S. Army's 143rd Sustainment Command.