https://www.americancityandcounty.com/wp-content/themes/acc_child/assets/images/logo/footer-logo.png
  • Home
  • Co-op Solutions
  • Hybrid Work
  • Commentaries
  • News
  • In-Depth
  • Multimedia
    • Back
    • Podcast
    • Latest videos
    • Product Guides
  • Resources & Events
    • Back
    • Resources
    • Webinars
    • White Papers
    • IWCE 2022
    • How to Contribute
    • Municipal Cost Index – Archive
    • Equipment Watch Page
    • American City & County Awards
  • About Us
    • Back
    • About Us
    • Contact Us
    • Advertise
    • Cookie Policy
    • Privacy Statement
    • Terms of Service
American City and County
  • NEWSLETTER
  • Home
  • Co-op Solutions
  • Hybrid Work
  • Commentaries
  • News
  • In-Depth
  • Multimedia
    • Back
    • Podcasts
    • Latest videos
    • Product Guides
  • Resources/Events
    • Back
    • Webinars
    • White Papers/eBooks
    • IWCE Expo
    • Calendar of Events
    • How to Contribute
    • American City & County Awards
    • Municipal Cost Index
    • Equipment Watch Page
  • About Us
    • Back
    • About Us
    • Contact Us
    • Advertise
    • Cookie Policy
    • Privacy Stament
    • Terms of Service
  • newsletter
  • Administration
  • Economy & Finance
  • Procurement
  • Public Safety
  • Public Works & Utilities
  • Smart Cities & Technology
  • Magazine
acc.com


Flood control project results in children’s park

Flood control project results in children’s park

The flatness of California's central valley and the rapid growth of the valley's Fresno-Clovis metropolitan area necessitated a unique approach to stormwater
  • Written by American City & County Administrator
  • 1st December 1995

The flatness of California’s central valley and the rapid growth of the valley’s Fresno-Clovis metropolitan area necessitated a unique approach to stormwater management.

At the same time, the critical importance of water conservation and the need for recreational open space presented an unparalleled opportunity for stormwater system design. Beginning in the late 1950s, and building on the concept of stormwater retention and recharge, the Fresno Metropolitan Flood Control District (FMFCD) now serves an urbanizing area of 300 square miles and a population of 600,000.

The system, on average, captures and recharges to groundwater 31,500 acre-feet of rainfall runoff, equaling 90 percent of all area stormwater runoff.

During the summer months when surface water is imported for irrigation, the system is used by water agencies to achieve additional groundwater replenishment.

In total, the district’s stormwater system replaces 35 percent of the groundwater pumped annually to meet urban needs. Yet groundwater recharge is only one of the secondary uses of the stormwater system. By far the most popular use of the basins is for neighborhood parks. Basins in residential areas are excavated to shallow depths with flattened side slopes.

Finished basins include trees, turf and sprinklers. Through a contract with parks and recreation departments, such sites are made available for development as active playgrounds. Today, five basins are outfitted as active playgrounds and 12 serve as passive parks.

The most unique component of the system is a recently completed park for disabled children. Presented with a flood control basin that had extra design flexibility, Sloan Johnson, then a District Board member, challenged FMFCD to focus on unmet recreation needs by constructing a special needs park, and while many parks were “accessible,” none had been found to be wholly usable by disabled children.

The FMFCD Board of Directors began a fund drive to raise $250,000 for the extra costs of such a project. The park, which opened on June 8, came in $12,000 under its $1.2 million budget.

Total community gifts and grants exceeded $320,000, and thousands of volunteer hours were invested in design, fund raising, landscaping and construction.

Because it is in an excavated basin, the park’s features are arrayed at three different elevations. The lower tier has a permanent two-acre lake, which also is a groundwater recharge unit.

Two observation decks give children an unhindered view of evolving aquatic habitat and wildlife. The five-acre middle tier has an open turfed play area and a wheelchair basketball court. Two interpretive mazes incorporate a variety of paths, textures and colors to provide visual and sensory stimulation.

Upper-tier features include picnic and arts and crafts pavilions, small and older children’s play areas and a frontier area and mining town. The park includes a stair/ramp structure for mobility training and rehabilitation and a raised grassed platform, which serves as a therapy platform. The success of the park clearly stems from a reversal of traditional thinking.

Tags:

Most Recent


  • Boston pilot to support green energy retrofit of smaller, owner-occupied multi-family buildings
    With a historic amount of climate-related funding available from the federal government  through initiatives like the Inflation Reduction Act, communities across the United States are experimenting with the best ways to drive down carbon emissions. The latest pilot program in Boston, which has notably launched a number of initiatives to reduce building emissions this year, […]
  • EPA makes available $4.6B for cities, counties and Tribes to reduce climate pollution
    To combat rising climate pollution levels, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced Wednesday $4.6 billion in competitive grants available to cities, counties, territories and Tribal governments. The grants, which are a part of the EPA’s $5 billion Climate Pollution Grants program, are funded through the Inflation Reduction Act. They’re intended to spark community-driven environmental solutions, […]
  • materials
    Public buyers have several options to keep problem materials out of the waste stream
    Cities and counties are taking multiple steps towards sustainability, says Curran Hughes, co-founder and president of Renegade Plastics, a fabric product manufacturer that offers an alternative to PVC (polyvinyl chloride)-coated fabrics. Its low carbon coated fabrics curtail plastic waste and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, according to the company. “Local governments are doing a nice job […]
  • Data modeling tool can project energy, efficiency savings for residential, commercial buildings
    Projecting the impact of a building’s transition to clean energy is a complicated process that involves complex data—one that might be difficult to translate for an audience of constituents at an annual town meeting or public forum. A new data set published by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) could help administrators better quantify the […]

Leave a comment Cancel reply

-or-

Log in with your American City and County account

Alternatively, post a comment by completing the form below:

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Related Content

  • North Texas alliance partners with Marketplace.city on smart government solutions
  • Harris County deploys next-generation security in 150 public buildings
  • Public procurement can be transformative for stakeholders in a community
  • The 10 Most Sustainable Large U.S. Cities

White papers


7 Resources to Level-up Your Federal Grants Administration and Compliance

5th September 2023

Elevator Phone Line Replacement Strategy | A Guide to Reliable, Code-Compliant Solutions

29th August 2023

2023 State of Public Sourcing Report: The Bright Future of Public Procurement

23rd August 2023
view all

Webinars


Grant Preparedness: Unlocking Funding Opportunities for Your Success

10th August 2023

2023 State of Public Sourcing: Taking Local Governments into a Bright Future

1st August 2023

Stop Playing with Fire: How to Manage Infrastructure Asset Risk So You Know You’re Covered

20th June 2023
view all

PODCAST


Young Leaders Episode 4 – Cyril Jefferson – City Councilman, High Point, North Carolina

13th October 2020

Young Leaders Episode 3 – Shannon Hardin – City Council President, Columbus, Ohio

27th July 2020

Young Leaders Episode 2 – Christian Williams – Development Services Planner, Goodyear, Ariz.

1st July 2020
view all

GALLERIES


Gallery: Hottest temperatures recorded in American cities during July

12th September 2023

The top 10 Asthma Capitals for 2023

7th September 2023

U.S. cities with the cleanest air from latest “State of the Air” report

5th September 2023
view all

Twitter


Newsletters

Sign up for American City & County’s newsletters to receive regular news and information updates about local governments.

Resale Insights Dashboard

The Resale Insights Dashboard provides model-level data for the entire used equipment market to help you save time and money.

Municipal Cost Index

Updated monthly since 1978, our exclusive Municipal Cost Index shows the effects of inflation on the cost of providing municipal services

Media Kit and Advertising

Want to reach our digital audience? Learn more here.

DISCOVER MORE FROM INFORMA TECH

  • IWCE’s Urgent Communications
  • IWCE Expo

WORKING WITH US

  • About Us
  • Contact Us

FOLLOW American City and County ON SOCIAL

  • Privacy
  • CCPA: “Do Not Sell My Data”
  • Cookie Policy
  • Terms
Copyright © 2023 Informa PLC. Informa PLC is registered in England and Wales with company number 8860726 whose registered and Head office is 5 Howick Place, London, SW1P 1WG.