Soledad is getting ready to open the first inclusive park in South County.

After a year of construction, a new park with a goal of serving children of all abilities is getting ready to open in Soledad. That year followed four years of members of the community actively participating in meetings, surveys and a naming competition. In the end, the park will keep the name it is already known for: Orchard Lane Park.

The 3.5-acre park will offer different amenities, including picnic tables, a skate park, free Wi-Fi, a splash area, and multiple play areas designed to be accessible for kids with disabilities. The park is located behind Hartnell College’s Soledad Education Center, and within walking distance from Gavilan and San Vicente elementary schools.

“It’s really going to be accessible to a lot of our community,” says Jessica Potts, recreation manager for the city’s Parks and Recreation Department. Potts notes that Soledad is growing and there will be more neighborhoods eventually built out near the park.

Mayor Anna Velazquez says this park is a testament to community engagement. People actively made suggestions on the type of equipment they wanted. For Velazquez, the project is personal; her younger sister Rosa has a disability, and she knows what it means for kids of different abilities to go to a playground.

She also remembers when Orchard Lane Park was a field of sugar beets. Now, it has grassy areas and colorful swings and playgrounds. She notes there aren’t many accessible parks in Monterey County.

The cost of the Orchard Lane Park project was $7.7 million, and it was funded with state money from Proposition 68, a $4 billion bond that passed in 2018 and allocated money for park, flood protection and water infrastructure projects.

Orchard Lane joins Tatum’s Garden in Salinas as the second inclusive playground in Monterey County. “The only [inclusive] park that we have is in Salinas, so being able to bring that here to our families was really important,” Velazquez highlights.

Tatum’s Garden Foundation is at work on its second park, called Tatum’s Treehouse, at the Carmel Valley Community Youth Center (located at Carmel Valley Community Park). It is a collaboration between the two nonprofits.

The dream, Tatum’s Garden Foundation boardmember Sam Spadoni says, is to “transform the park into a fully accessible park.”

For now, fundraising continues and he says they hope to bring a design team on board by the end of 2023.

He also highlights the need for more inclusive parks throughout the county. Tatum’s Garden opened in 2013, and before that it was not uncommon for families to travel up to two or three hours to playgrounds designed to be accessible to their children.

An opening ceremony for Orchard Lane Park will be held at 10am on Saturday, Aug. 19 near the intersection of Orchard Lane and Metz Road in Soledad.