Clinton Community Park Designing an Interactive Open Space Park to Serve Changing Community Needs in Clinton, Montana Project Summary Community: Clinton, Montana Technical Assistance: Site Reuse Design Former Use: Community Center, Open Space Future Use: Community Park The Clinton Community Park is located in Clinton, an unincorporated community of about 1,000 people in Missoula County, Montana. The site has long served as a recreation and community gathering space covering approximately 5 acres. The community center building was constructed as a church in 1910 and moved to the current site and expanded in 1974. Today, the building has been vacant and unused, and the adjacent open space and ballfield are underutilized and overgrown. The Missoula County Parks, Trails, and Open Lands (MCPTOL) was looking to upgrade the amenities at the Community Park and expand on momentum from a recent skatepark donation. The Community's Challenge The current community center building does not serve any functional uses and has been the subject of vandalism as well as a large water leak in 2018. However, this area represents one of the only recreational amenities and gathering spaces in the small community and holds many memories for older residents of its past heyday. The MCPTOL has targeted this site for improvement in the County's Parks and Trails Master Plan but needed support to design a reuse plan that meets the different needs of community members and preserves the community's identity and connection to the site. EPA's Land Revitalization Technical Assistance The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Office of Brownfield and Land Revitalization (OBLR) and EPA Region 8 provided technical assistance to MCPTOL to support the site reuse and revitalization planning for the Clinton Community Park. The plan also explored opportunities to formally connect the park to a nearby conservation area. The plan was derived from extensive community engagement with residents and students from the adjacent Clinton School. Previous environmental site assessments found extensive mold throughout the community center building, likely from disuse and the water leak. The building also contained lead-based paint and some asbestos-containing materials. Additionally, soil surrounding the building was discovered to have lead contamination, likely from lead-based paint on the exterior of the building. There is ongoing conversation locally whether the building should be cleaned up and renovated or demolished, given its condition. The plan included several alternatives that illustrate the range of options for the future of the community center building. The final site plan illustrates several community- supported uses that build on the past and potential future uses of the park. With the addition of a donated skatepark, the park focuses on both active recreational opportunities with trails and a pump track and more passive uses such as a community garden that can connect to educational programming at the school. For more information, contact Stephanie Shen, EPA Region 8 Brownfields Program, at Shen.Stephanie@epa.gov. United States Environmental Protection ^*^1 M * Agency Office of Brownfields and Land Revitalization 560-F-23-332 ------- |