Lynnbrook Park Builds Community

September 26, 2024, Feature, by Alexandra Reynolds

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Parks Build Community program supports increased park access in Chattanooga, Tennessee

What was once an empty lot in the Oak Grove neighborhood of Chattanooga, Tennessee, is now a hub of activity, play and joy. Lynnbrook Park, chosen as NRPA’s 2021 Parks Build Community project, opened on Saturday, July 27, when Akosua Cook, City of Chattanooga development review planner, cut the ribbon at the park opening. Community leaders and representatives, local residents, and NRPA Director of Community and Environmental Resilience Ayanna Williams attended the event and celebrated the benefits the new park will bring to the neighborhood.

Prioritizing Park Access

Lynnbrook Park stands as one of many impactful Parks Build Community projects across the nation. NRPA selected Lynnbrook Park, then 1.4 acres of unutilized space that frequently flooded, to increase equitable park access for community members and improve the ecological health of the area.

City of Chattanooga Mayor Tim Kelly celebrates the transformation of a space that once posed flooding issues into a true community asset that connects community members. “Parks and playgrounds should be accessible to everyone, and I know the Oak Grove community is excited about this new neighborhood park,” says Kelly. “Chattanooga is known for our outdoor assets, but we’re always looking for ways to increase access to nature. The park’s restored stream, walking paths, native plants and playground will meaningfully improve the quality of life in this neighborhood.”

The Parks Build Community program has created high-quality parks across the United States that serve more than 40,000 people annually. The program, utilizing a public-private partnership between NRPA and participating organizations, is one of the many ways NRPA strives to create fair and just access to high-quality parks nationwide, particularly as more than 100 million people in the United States do not have access to high-quality parks and recreation. Approximately 3,000 people will now live within a 10-minute walk of Lynnbrook Park.

“We are thrilled to celebrate the completion of Lynnbrook Park and welcome the local community to celebrate with us by visiting this beautiful new community space,” says Kellie May, NRPA chief partnerships officer. “We are thankful to the many partners who helped bring this project to life and are grateful for the partnership with Chattanooga and the community. We are looking forward to hearing the stories and seeing the photos of this new community space in action.”

A Collaborative Effort

The journey to the park’s completion centered equity, collaboration and community throughout the design and development to ensure the park would serve the neighborhood for years to come. Like-minded organizations in support of increased park and play access generously donated to the Lynnbrook Park project to bring it to fruition. Donors contributed park equipment and products valued at nearly $300,000 to support the development of a space that would not only serve existing community members, but also those to come as the city’s population grows.

“We at GameTime proudly supported this project that brought much-needed park access to Chattanooga’s Oak Grove neighborhood,” says Kathryn Barnes, senior manager of sales and marketing at GameTime, one of the donors. “Our mission to bring recreation and play to people of all ages and abilities drives our work in local communities like this one, and we are excited to see Lynnbrook Park serve as a special gathering place for the members of this community.”

Mike Shindler, marketing relations manager at Musco Lighting, another donating organization, says, “We’ve been very fortunate to be involved with NRPA for many years and giving back to communities like Lynnbrook where local parks and recreation is making a difference. It’s great to see projects come to life and increase access to places like this.”

Park Features

With play equipment and room for community gatherings and celebrations, Lynnbrook Park brings people of all ages together for fun and social connection. The park features a playground, picnic and seating areas, a walking path, plantings for pollinators, a restored stream with natural filtration, and permeable surfaces to assist with flood mitigation. Transitional areas connect the spaces that form a distinctive neighborhood park. Educational signage details the efforts made to improve ecosystem health by restoring the stream that runs throughout the park and how clean water supports plant habitats and wildlife corridors.

During the development phases, one of the goals that emerged was to create a park that connected visitors with nature. The park features a pollinator garden that both educates residents about the local ecosystem and increases the resilience and health of the space. Indigenous plantings along the stream help to reestablish the streambank. This attention to water reflects one of the major themes of residents’ feedback during community engagement efforts. The new park design addresses persistent flooding issues to create a safe, usable park space, and NRPA’s efforts to empower communities nationwide to pursue and prioritize environmental resilience at the local level went hand in hand with this need.

Construction of the park started in May 2023, following efforts to remove a parking lot and debris within the space. Functional and aesthetic features, like boulder arches and seat walls, prevent flooding and improve the park’s appearance. Retaining walls and reinforced concrete pipes also serve to improve structural integrity and drainage to address and mitigate the area’s past flooding issues.

Envisioning a Community Hub

When searching for the 2021 Parks Build Community awardee, NRPA considered several criteria, including new equity-based guidelines, to maximize the benefits to a community in need of park access, and more broadly, all of the many benefits of parks and recreation, such as improved physical and mental health among residents, increased social connection, and increased economic health, among other facets. The search focused on the Southeast and led NRPA to Tennessee. At the time, only 38 percent of Chattanooga residents lived within a 10-minute walk to a park, a measure that represents adequate park access for a community.

Chattanooga’s Oak Grove neighborhood has a diverse mix of more than 1,000 Black, Latino and white residents in need of park access. The neighborhood has a significant Guatemalan population, as many fled a civil war in Guatemala that persisted from 1960 to 1996. Due to the need for a strong labor supply in Chattanooga’s industrial area, many Guatemalan immigrants settled in Chattanooga and encouraged family members to join them in the 1980s. Today, the Guatemalan population continues to flourish in Chattanooga, contributing to the city’s diversity and offering unique insights on desired park features during the public engagement phase of Lynnbrook Park’s development.

Community engagement grounded the design of Lynnbrook Park from its beginning. City of Chattanooga sought to create a park that reflected the culture of the local area, following the visioning efforts by the Trust for Public Lands (TPL) and local lawyer, artist and writer Josiah Golson. The Chattanooga Public Lands Office and TPL successfully applied for and was awarded a National Endowment of the Arts grant, and the award funded public engagement events tailored for the community.

The team created culturally mindful community engagement opportunities to learn how residents currently were using community spaces and allow them to voice their preferred features and amenities for the future park. They developed the Lynnbrook Community Design Sketchbook, in which Golson highlighted “...facilitating safe spaces in which individuals from the community can comfortably express themselves...” as a priority.

Cook, an experienced park planner, focused on making connections with neighbors and local business owners in new ways throughout the engagement process, in part because the traditional community meeting formats were no longer as effective as they were in the past. The team listened to community members and used their input when considering park amenities. Residents shared their thoughts during community events that created open, in-person opportunities to provide input. “You can make the mistake sometimes of placing something in an area because…on paper it seems like a good idea, but it’s important to listen to the community [and] hear what their desires are because we want it to be a space that they use,” Cook told NRPA.

Today, community members come to Lynnbrook Park to spend time together, celebrate special moments and enjoy time in nature. The Lynnbrook Park project serves as a case study for what can be accomplished through collaboration, generosity and community engagement.

Lynnbrook Park Donors

SEE ALSO: “Introducing Lynnbrook Park,” Paula M. Jacoby-Garrett, Parks & Recreation, June 2021, Vol. 56, Iss. 6; “Building More Than a Park – Building Democracy,” Paula M. Jacoby-Garrett, Parks & Recreation, September 2021, Vol. 56, Iss. 9.

Alexandra Reynolds is Associate Editor of Parks & Recreation magazine.