Last Updated on December 30, 2023, 11:45 PM | Published: April 16, 2023
OKLAHOMA CITY — Now that Scissortail Park has been open for several years, residents in the OKC metro have started using it and heavy enough to create new challenges for the maintenance company responsible for its care.
In the process of simply asking about why maintenance problems seemed to persist, Free Press gained information about a complex arrangement of two foundations and a management company that are responsible for Scissortail Park and Myriad Gardens.
Complaints
We visited the park Tuesday because of complaints we had heard from several people who have kids and dogs and regularly use the park.
They told us that the restrooms had been closed, splash pads and water fountains had been turned off, and had been that way for weeks, if not a month.
And, they had seen no signs or indication of when those problems were going to be resolved.
Bad for Scissortail Park’s image, those complaints were starting to leak out onto social media.
No water?
While much of the park was empty at 1:00 p.m. Tuesday, the children’s playground on the East side of the expansive park was buzzing with kids, crawling on jungle gyms and playing in sandpits.
Sisters Stephanie Hoisington and Elizabeth Kreeb took advantage of the warm Spring day and took their boys to the children’s playground. The two of them have lived in Oklahoma City their whole lives, and they’re just as excited about the park as their children are.
“This city has grown so much, and this is one of their favorite places to go,” Hoisington told Free Press.
There was only one hitch in their plans. The fountains, restrooms, misters and the splash pad in the children’s area of the park were all not usable.
“The kids were kind of hoping for the splash pad to be open,” Kreeb said. “The water feature was really part of actually what drew them here. When it’s running, they can just run forever and keep cool.”
And anyone who has ever been around kids who are active and playing know that sooner than later they will need to find a restroom, and right now.
Hike to nearest restrooms
Tips Free Press received earlier were that people using the kids play area had no idea why the restrooms were closed, the water fountains were turned off, and the splash pads were closed.
But, as a result of a phone call we made to the park’s management office Monday asking about the problems, by Tuesday a sign had been placed on the children’s restroom that read,
We apologize for the inconvenience. Repair parts are in transit, and we will have the restroom operational as soon as possible. In the meantime, we have other options at the stage, the Skyrink, the Boathouse, and the portable bathrooms northeast of the play pavilion.
The nearest restrooms to the children’s area are those portable toilets, and the nearest indoor restrooms are located at the Skyrink, about a 500 ft walk South through the park.
Facilities Manager Angel Santiago told Free Press that the required parts have been received, and work is underway to address the issue.
“I’ve just run into another issue now,” Santiago said. “I think my coupler that’s in the concrete may have broken. I’m going to fire it up, and hopefully, it’s not. Hopefully it’ll work.”
The damage to the system occurred over the winter, but it wasn’t evident until the fountains were turned on recently.
Complex organization
Our efforts to get answers on the maintenance issues brought us to Maureen Heffernan, who wears a lot of hats.
She is the executive director of the
- Scissortail Park Foundation
- Myriad Gardens Foundation
- Park Management Company
Together, those three entities help Scissortail Park and the Myriad Gardens continue to develop and evolve.
The two foundations raise money for development of new features and programs.
Park Management Company then takes money the City of Oklahoma City contributes yearly, and money raised by the respective foundations, to run and maintain both parks daily.
According to Heffernan, the City of Oklahoma City provides:
- 70% of operations money to Scissortail Park
- 55% of operations money to Myraid Gardens
The company schedules and manages events, publicity, maintenance and the many aspects of running the two parks that, added together, cover almost 90 acres of downtown.
The challenges of success
Our first conversation found Heffernan to be surprised at hearing of maintenance issues that had been accruing for weeks, if not months.
It seemed that the recent upsurge of use in both parks – a sign of success – had nonetheless created challenges to the staff that they did not expect.
Her initial response was that the many people who use the park were exacting wear and tear on the facilities and posing a challenge to their staff to keep up.
“The public is very hard on things,” Heffernan said. “And, you know, sometimes things break, or are vandalized.”
Upon hearing about the issues, she asked for a day to check in with her maintenance staff so she could give us an update. We agreed.
When Heffernan got back with us, she told us that they had several issues that the staff had known about and were working on, but had not told her about.
- The water source repair to the children’s play area had stalled because of waiting for a part to arrive, but was scheduled to be repaired within a few days.
- Residents who had passed along their complaints to us said that the dog park gate seemed to be broken. However, it isn’t broken but is such an unusual design that often the public is unclear about how to secure the gate. Heffernan said that she has cleared money to replace the gate with one that operates in a more intuitive way.
- Paddleboats that had broken down or had to be taken out of service last year had been repaired or replaced. Heffernan noted that at present the lake is being refilled after having the water level lowered in winter months for various repairs and upgrades.
History
At a little over 14 acres, the Myriad Gardens has been through several large redevelopment phases since ground was broken in 1977. It has been funded by the City of Oklahoma City and the Myriad Gardens Foundation since 1988. Large financial collaborations for further development included Devon Energy that built its headquarters across the street.
It is now the enduring last vestige of the controversial “Pei Plan” which resulted in the clear-cutting of blocks upon blocks of historic downtown Oklahoma City. The demolition of the historic Biltmore Hotel and other buildings next to it made way for the Myriad Gardens of today.
Scissortail Park was a MAPS 3 project and was developed in two phases:
- “Upper Park” opened in 2019 covering 40 acres north of I-40
- “Lower Park” opened in 2022 covering 30 acres south of I-40
Scissortail Park and Myriad Gardens continue to draw increasingly larger crowds which will continue to pose challenges to the parks’ management and maintenance staff.
Note: in the original version of this report we misspelled Maureen Heffernan’s name. It has been corrected. We are sorry for the error. Details about key dates for the Myriad Gardens have been expanded and updated.
Founder, publisher, and editor of Oklahoma City Free Press. Brett continues to contribute reports and photography to this site as he runs the business.
Zoe Travers has spent her career covering local musicians, artists, politicians, and everyday folks. She is also Oklahoma City’s most enthusiastic connoisseur of cheese danishes.
