Burnett Park Redesign

Via the Star-Telegram comes this look at the changes coming to Burnett Park in Downtown. The Burnett Foundation is funding the changes, which will attempt to make the park more of a livable public space and less of a giant lobby for the Burnett Plaza office tower:

One of the more noticeable changes will be the removal of a series of “candlestick” fountains in the center of the park, installed in the mid-1980s, which have become too costly to repair and maintain. Grass will be laid in place and brought to the sidewalk level. The crisscross pattern of the granite sidewalks will not change, according to plans.

Electrical work will be done to accommodate performance stages at the east and west sides of the park, and movable tables and chairs will be put in for public use. Hedges in the periphery planter boxes will be replaced with low-growing foliage to allow better park views from the street. Some trees will be removed to allow for more sunlight, particularly over the raised great lawn.

The children’s play area, located close to the 10th Street side of the park, will consist of two different climbing areas, one with smooth boulders and the other in weblike formations. The ground will be a spongy rubberized material.

We are looking forward to seeing the renovations to Burnett Park. A lot of the changes, such as the play area, the raising of the grass from its current sunken configuration, and the public tables and chairs, sound quite positive. We’re a little disappointed that the criss-cross sidewalks will remain – if they really wanted a park-like “great lawn,” one would think they’d remove a portion of the sidewalks in the center of the park.

Nevertheless, it’s a positive series of changes and it reflects the changing nature of Downtown Fort Worth as it attracts residents – some with children. Though to be honest, we still have a fondness for the old Burnett Park, when it was genuinely park-like back before Burnett Plaza smothered the area with concrete, during the days when the elegant old Medical Arts Building still held down the west side of the park.