Maple Grove Central Park

Location: Maple Grove, Minnesota | Client: City of Maple Grove Parks Department | Design Team: Damon Farber Associates | Features: Irrigation Design

Overview

In the Spring of 2013, the City of Maple Grove, MN, acquired a parcel of land in what was formerly a gravel pit. With an urban community park being in the City’s plans for over 30 years, city planners jumped at the opportunity to make their plans a reality. Two short years later the 21-acre Central Park of Maple Grove was officially open and ready for the community to enjoy. The park consists of a spacious central lawn, basketball courts, various gardens, an interactive playground and water splash pad, and even an ice skating loop stretching over 800 ft. long for the winter months.

With such a big landscape, the City of Maple Grove wanted to make sure the park had the most efficient irrigation system to uphold its pristine look. Knowing they needed a professional’s eye, the City turned to Water In Motion, Inc., to design the two main irrigation systems for the park’s large and complex landscape.

Details

Out of the total 21-acre park facility, water is delivered to approximately 19 of those acres. There are two separate irrigation systems, along with two separate booster pumps, water meters, backflow prevention assemblies, and two separate digital decoder-based controllers.

Water in Motion also considered the park’s variety of irrigation needs. Our company designed irrigation for several different specialty areas including:

Sports/Events Field

  • The sports and special events field is irrigated with Toro 640 sport rotors. Well known for their strong durability, these rotors are secured into place and will not be knocked down by sport activities.

Formal Garden

  • There are two different types of irrigation for the Formal Garden. First, the turf areas are lined by  Toro Precision spray nozzles, which help reduce runoff and manage overall water use. Second, irrigation for the flower beds are plant specific. Either 12″ High-Pop sprays or drip irrigation were designed – depending on the anticipated annual plantings.

Ice Skating Loop Interior

  • The Ice Skating Loop creates a micro-climate for the interior landscape, which is strictly drip irrigated. The surrounding tree grates on the plaza are also drip irrigated with tree drip rings where water is supplemented directly into the root zone area.

Playground Plantings

  • The small pocket plantings aligning the park’s playground are assigned to different specialty zones, depending on plant type. Similar to the Formal Garden plant beds, these plants have different watering requirements and therefore, plant specific irrigation is necessary.