The proposal to upgrade Doc Mock Park was approved by the Patagonia Town Council at its December 16 meeting. This action gives the green light to the park’s design team to finish and submit, by January 31, the one-year and five-year master plans required by Arizona Forestry which issued the $14,000 grant that funded this phase of the project.
The team has incorporated four themes of local importance in the park’s design: ranching, railroading, birding and Doctor Mock’s legacy. Historical vignettes of these themes will also be featured on accordion style story boards located at the park entrance.
The park will include new trees and shrubs to provide shade, noise abatement, traffic calming, pollination, food and shelter for birds and other wildlife. New and enhanced elements planned are:
•A prominent entrance featuring an archway similar to the one at Richardson Park and a railroad portico covering a walkway leading to a 25’ X 25’ ramada covering the Doc Mock memorial.
•Several picnic areas with BBQ facilities.
•A meandering constructed stream fed by treated effluent from the wastewater treatment plant and returned underground to Sonoita Creek.
•A raised accessible footpath paralleling the stream. The Michael Martin Memorial Skate Park as requested by the youth of Patagonia.
•A raised observation deck for viewing wildlife.
•A raised amphitheater near the center of the park for staging special performances.
•A dog park which could be listed in a national directory of dog parks.
•Seven underground cisterns which will store up to 105,000 gallons of captured rainwater.
•Parking spaces (161), some of them covered.
•Solar panels (90,720 square feet) shading part of the parking and capable of capturing 5,832 gallons of rainwater in a 1” rainfall.
Local citizens will have an opportunity to get an up-close look at the master plan and ask questions when the design team offers a public presentation of the plan at the Audubon Society’s Paton Center for Hummingbirds on January 23. The presentation will be followed by a workday in the park at which volunteers are invited to help install rainwater harvesting terraces and spread mulch.
Having secured town approval for the park enhancements, the design team will now turn its attention to the challenging task of securing funds for construction and long-term maintenance of the facility.