Landscape Architect & Specifier News

MAR 2014

LASN is a photographically oriented, professional journal featuring topics of concern and state-of-the-art projects designed or influenced by registered Landscape Architects.

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102 Landscape Architect and Specifier News Elizabethtown (Continued from page 100) were required, they all carried the same architectural language and detail to bring a unified and consistent look to the park. Pedestrian pavements and plaza spaces were designed with special details, including sports themed paver inlays, articulated concrete and seat walls that picked up on the architecture of the park buildings. Parking lots featured large interior islands to provide shade and visual appeal. Landscape was incorporated into the park to define entrances and key focal points, and to provide an additional level of detail and relief from the large areas of pavement required to accommodate large groups. Native and naturalized plants were selected for durability, and to ensure irrigation was not needed anywhere but on the playing fields. Site amenities selected to set the Elizabethtown Sports Park apart include stadium seating at the championship baseball fields, playgrounds with misters at all baseball quads and the soccer fields, shade structures at all baseball fields, high quality benches, receptacles and tables and chairs, and an extensive park signage package that included park entry signs, wayfinding, field and building markers and interpretive signs. The city of Elizabethtown also had a keen interest in stormwater management techniques as a design and educational feature of the park. More than 26,000 square feet of permeable pavers were used in the parking lots, and the two largest lots included more than 20,000 square feet of interior bio-filtration islands. Four detention/bio-filtration basins were constructed to manage and treat stormwater runoff; these basins hold water much of the year and provide an aesthetic element that links the park to its surroundings. Interpretive signage was also included to describe the park's approach to stormwater management to visitors. The attention to design and detail of the fields and amenities has helped make the Elizabethtown Sports Park a tremendous success for the community. In its first year alone, local hotels, restaurants and retail venues reported nearly ten million dollars of economic impact, far exceeding the wildest dreams for the first half season. Another bio-filtration basin was added behind the 'blue' basball complex, with native, wetland- loving bald cypress trees at the periphery and volunteer species growing along the edges of the pond. More than four acres of detention/filtration basins were installed on site. Permeable pavers in one of the baseball parking lots control runoff on site and mitigate maintenance needs. Additional pathways include two vehicular/pedestrian bridges and a 5k trail. Lighting and a landscaped island fill out the space beyond the parking area and extend the design theme of the complex. Vendors Bleachers: Dant Clayton Corporation Irrigation System: Rainbird Permeable Pavers: Ecoflo by Reading Rock Plaza Pavers: Pavestone Scoreboards: Electo-Mech Shade Structures: Shade Systems Sports Lighting: System Green by Musco 94-103.indd 102 2/26/14 4:43 PM

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