Lundquist Bicentennial Park Master Plan

In 2020, JPR was hired by the Elkhart River District Implementation Team (RDIT) to develop a conceptual design for Lundquist Bicentennial Park. Located in the Elkhart River District, the overall goal was to transform the park into a regional destination.

A critical piece of the master planning process – and one of the main challenges due to the COVID-19 pandemic – was to develop public engagement within the community. JPR prepared three public presentations to discuss the history of the park, along with a Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT) analysis. The team was able to successfully implement public presentations via Zoom meetings. Ultimately we found that these online meetings, held at different times, allowed for better public engagement and did not limit our ability to gather ideas or suggestions. Instead, by using the chat feature, the community was more willing to speak and ask questions and provided more input than a typical in-person engagement session.

Prior to the presentations, JPR also developed case studies of other destination parks and play equipment to aid in the discussion of what the general public likes and dislikes.

Taking the information gathered over the three presentations, JPR developed a conceptual Master Plan and cost estimate for the park. The estimate and Master Plan were broken down into phases to establish what could be done with the initial funding already acquired, and additional 3D renderings and models were created to aid in future fundraising efforts.

JPR was proud to work on the Lundquist Bicentennial Park Master Plan, which was a key priority identified during a recently updated Elkhart Parks and Recreation Department 5-Year Master Plan.

Lundquist Bicentennial Park is intended to be the “heart” of the Elkhart River District. With nearly 1,000 new residential units planned for the District, this park will play a pivotal role in fulfilling the Elkhart RDIT’s goal to provide a walkable community.