The projects of the Memorial Park Master Plan, and its accelerated Ten-Year Plan component, promote connectivity and resiliency, improve cultural and recreational amenities; and are underpinned by extensive ecological restoration.

Balancing the urban wilderness and active recreation which makes Memorial Park unique in the city, the first phase of the Master Plan’s Sports Complex will open in 2020. This phase is an important process in the Master Plan’s goals of consolidating areas of recreation and reuniting previously fragmented ecological areas. User experience will be enhanced by centralizing the sports fields that are scattered across the Park. The complex will be a dynamic and vibrant area and will include a multi-use sports field for games like rugby, lacrosse, soccer and other field sports; two ballfields; and four sand volleyball courts as well as associated parking. Project design incorporates a forested buffer between I-10 and the new complex.

Like all master plan components, the project is grounded in ecological resiliency. Invasive trees and plants will be removed, soils will be amended appropriately, and stormwater management will be addressed. Healthy, viable trees will be relocated within the Park in order to prepare the site for active recreation, and others will be turned into nutrient-rich compost for the Park’s soils. The former site of the sports fields on the south side of the Park will be converted to a lush native landscape.