Designing an Outdoor Recreation Facility: USU Scotsman Park
Team: Patrick Archibald, Bracken Falslev, Parker Hollist, David Leonhardt, Kyle Miller, and Lincoln Wariner
Sponsor: IMEG Corp
Project
USU Scotsman Park is an example of a university and community coming together to create a mutually beneficial project. Students and Cache Valley residents alike can use the recreation facility and park for numerous games, events, and other activities.The turf field has the capability to host flag football, rugby, soccer, and lacrosse games.
The 154-stall parking lot and relocated bus stop will ease transportation to and from the park.With the increasing popularity of pickleball in Cache Valley, six additional courts will be a valuable resource to pickleball players. The quarter mile walking path, service building, pavilion, and grass park provide comfortable amenities and space for endless community-oriented activities.
Alternatives
We rated alternatives based off six metrics: community aesthetic, community service, construction budget, timeline, profitability, and environmental impact.
The conventional park features traditional park elements, including restrooms, pavilions, and concrete courts for basketball or pickleball. It offers strong visual appeal and enhances the surrounding community by adding valuable recreational resources. However, it may also lead to increased water usage for lawn maintenance, reduced parking availability, and higher upkeep costs that could outweigh potential revenue.
The compact sports complex offers a space-efficient design capable of hosting a variety of sports, making it a cost-effective option for both construction and maintenance. It includes practical features such as a large parking lot and a bus stop to improve accessibility. However, it lacks restrooms and has limited public appeal, as the full potential of the site isn't visually or functionally utilized.
Additional alternatives included options of smaller fields with more service buildings, sunken fields, and the bus stop being a more central component of the park's operation.
Selected Alternative
The team determined a combination of the highest rated alternatives would contribute to the final design. Combining the ideas for the natural landscape park and the compact sport area led to the creation of this final design.A walking path, pickleball courts, football, rugby, and soccer fields, a parking lot, a service building, and a pavilion.
Pickleball Courts
The pickleball courts will provide a popular asset to the university and the community. These courts provide a location for locals to connect, as well as students. It could also serve as a potential location for physical education classes or university sponsored intramural tournaments.
Hydrology
Stormwater runoff for this project is unique due to the multiple types of land cover: turf, pavement, natural ground, and concrete.To contain all the runoff on the site, the design team selected to use a green infrastructure system called R-Tanks.This system will retain all stormwater on site and will be located underneath the parking lot area. Systems of pipe and natural landscape drainage were used to convey the flow to the R-tanks.
Transportation
The design of the trail on the southern portion of the project consists of a quarter-mile, I 0-foot-wide path designed for pedestrian and cyclist use.The existing lot is used by the USU Cross Country team as part of their practice route and the new trail will provide a solution to the removed portion of the route.
Structural
The service building is a 30'x401 steel-frame structure designed to include restrooms, concessions, and storage for sports equipment. It adds valuable amenities not commonly found in Cache Valley parks, enhancing functionality and overall user experience. This building is centrally located in the park so all have the services easily accessible.
Acknowledgements
Our thanks go out to our external professional engineer and client, Doug Weber, our faculty advisor, Dr. Shrishti Banerji, and Professor Austin Ball for all of the help they gave contributing to the completion of this project.