Gilbert has had a busy past couple of months with groundbreaking ceremonies on two massive projects that will likely reshape the neighborhoods in the area, according to AZ Central. Construction has begun on the 272-acre Gilbert Regional Park and the 115-acre Rittenhouse District Park in Gilbert. Both park projects will be developed on two large swaths of land, making them the town’s most ambitious park projects to date.

Both residents and businesses will enjoy recreational use of the Chandler Heights Basin thanks to an Intergovernmental Agreement between the Flood Control District of Maricopa County and Gilbert. In Regional Park, Gilbert will implement and maintain a multi-use and recreational area within the Chandler Heights Basin, per the Town of Gilbert.

Phase one kicked off without a hitch. Some of the planned features of the Gilbert Regional Park include tennis, sand volleyball, and pickleball courts, as well as an eight-acre manmade lake, a mountainous playground, a splash pad, and a restroom building that will be constructed over a 12-month period.

Riparian Lake, Gilbert AZ

With intentions of creating a development that provides the opportunity for both passive and active recreation amenities with open space to serve multiple community needs, per the Master Plan Executive Summary, the community involvement plan had the goal of being tailored to identify the recreation needs of the GIlbert community.

Ultimately choosing a design that allowed the most opportunities for active recreation with “main street” style retail, amenities in the future phases will include an amphitheater, aquatics center, a dog park, a food truck court, a disc golf course, skate and BMX parks, a mountain bike park, and a ropes course. The project could finish as early as 2022, barring any unforeseen setbacks, and it’s expected to become a year-round regional attraction.

The second park project, Rittenhouse District Park, will be located between Power Road and north of Pecos Road near the Power Ranch master-planned community. It will be a multi-use recreational area within the Rittenhouse Basin located east of the Maricopa Floodway canal. Per the Gilbert Town Hall, phase one of construction is expected to be complete by September 2019 and will include two multi-use lighted fields, a lake, a playground, and restrooms. At build-out, the park will have a total of 13 fields. The conceptual design was created, much like the Gilbert Regional Park project, to include input from public outreach and stakeholders, such as user groups, the town council, and the parks and recreation board and staff, according to the East Valley Tribune.

Rod Buchanan, director of the Gilbert Parks and Recreation Department, said that both park projects will cost about $17 million each during their first phase of construction and will make a “substantial contribution to the quality of life in Gilbert,” adding that if done correctly the parks “will deliver what the community wants and needs so that you can have it be highly used.”