Opening day was a fabulous event welcoming the community to enjoy their new neighborhood park at this once "lost-lot" of land in the middle of a street in the high-density residential area of west Anaheim. The neighborhood kids wanted a marble pitch, tricycle path, picnic tables, and some grass. The picnic shelter, play lot, and garden setting were all just icing on the cake! Every day, one can stroll this little gem of a park and meet neighbors and friends. Visitors of all ages can enjoy spending time together in this intimate neighborhood park. Circle Park is now an indispensable amenity for the neighborhood and for the city. It has redefined what and where a public park can be built. This new recreation space provides great opportunities and will certainly promote healthy social activity in this little community.

The neighborhood, a collection of multifamily residences without front or back yards, was in dire need of some recreational space. The location for this park was once a lonely 8,700 square foot center-of-the-road median in a street cul-de-sac. It was primarily used for utilities, an infrastructure pass through, had no public access, and contained old plantings. The large street median was an unlikely but promising location to place a small neighborhood park, if the street parking could be reconfigured and safe crosswalk configurations could be designed. Anaheim Public Works and Parks Staff creatively considered the challenges and with community support, the street surrounding the median was redesigned to accommodate the new use.

 
The community residents had many ideas as to what this park could provide, and the neighborhood children helped formulate the park's vision. The design team and the enthusiastic contingent of local neighbors collaborated on the concept of several small spaces for play and recreation. This street median was once an unkempt shrubby dead space accented with utility boxes. The median was not considered a place anyone would use. Park funding was cobbled together from several sources; the picnic shelter was an adaptive reuse of a prop from a Parks' Conference Stage. Now, Circle Park has many beautiful amenities for families to enjoy.

After the thoughtful design process and installation of the wonderful park amenities, the median is now a centerpiece of the neighborhood. A picnic shelter gives shade to picnic tables with an accompanying barbeque grill. A tricycle path surrounds the recreation space. A marble pitch, a foursquare court, a play lot and even some open grassy space provide for fun recreational activities for the neighborhood children. Beautiful water-wise plantings complete the welcoming atmosphere of this little "pocket" of a park.

Circle Park now beckons the local children out of their homes. Neighbors and friends gather here and spend time amongst the many nicely detailed spaces. The attitude toward this space has completely changed for the better; this lost space has become a beautiful community asset. Through the creative and thoughtful reconfiguration of the street parking, crosswalks, and utility planning this "lost-lot" opportunity became a vibrant recreational space. Circle Park is a unique example of how a beautiful and useful community park can be built in the most unlikely of places.

Project Team
City of Anaheim: Community Services
Park Design Lead: David Volz Design Landscape Architects, Inc.
Play Elements: Landscape Structures
Playground Surfacing: Surface America

As seen in LASN magazine, February 2020.