Chetworth Park is one of the city's pocket parks.

It came to be during the late 1960's early '70's development boom that replaced the open yards that where here with the townhouses you see in the background, when (I have been told) on a cold February night the citizens of this area filled city hall requesting council buy this $80,000 plot of land for some 'Open Space'.

Council bowed to the request of the masses and Chetworth Park was made.

Until the late 1980's it was an unfenced open piece of land used a few, who brought their own chairs, in good weather and now and then for larger gatherings - parties, meet the candidate and the such.

Sometime in the late 80's a fence was placed around the park to, as I understand it, keep people who let their dogs run from using it as a bathroom.

A good result from the fence is it encouraged dog owners to walk their pet to the park. This helped neighbors meet and peer pressure helped encourage owners to clean up after the pets. It also allowed pets to run off leash (but under control of master).

In 1986 some of the young parents and soon to be parents met with some of the neighbors whose homes adjoined the park to discuss requesting the install some picnic tables, benched and a limited amount of toddler play equipment. While most agreed there was limited need, [Only 7 families with toddlers] we agreed that some equipment would be acceptable, as long as it took up less than 1/4 of the park and was placed in the south west corner.

This resulted, a year or so later, with the city presenting to large group of neighbors in the park, a plan for a multi unit (6 or 9) play center that consumed 80% of park, was pushed to the north (not south as requested) side of park. And as an added insult, the plan did not have a table or benches - that all had asked for. While there is much to say about this event, I'll only say it was very unproductive - and the police, if they were called - did not appear.

A year or two later after many meetings of the interested parties, it was agreed that only toddler equipment would be installed and less than 1/4 of park would be used for such.
And the existing slide/swing play unit was install.
But once again - not benches or tables were installed.
Please note: not one family who requested play equipment was still a member of neighborhood when this equipment was installed.

About a year later a picnic table and some benches were installed. About this time a connection for water was made. The City and NECA jointly paid for it.

About this time we gained a new crop of families with new babies. They decide more equipment was need to improve the play experience of toddlers. The net result was a small metal jungle gym was proposed. When brought before a meeting of the civic association the request for this was rejected in a vote as being inappropriate for a toddler park , would draw older unsupervised children and it took up too much of the open space.

This conflict brought about the NECA 1992 Chetworth Park Guidelines.pdf

Later a compromise was reached, that small jungle gym (like 6 ft tall) would be acceptable if placed in south west corner of park. However, a year later a bigger unit is what appeared. Something that was too big to fit in corner without removing trees. Not only was it too big to fit under tree canopy, it appears someone forgot the size of a play unit needs to include a 'fall safe' ring about it.
Regrettably, the city contacted the NECA president - who apparently without much thought and without contacting others involved - told city to put it any where. As a result it was place to the east of the wooden play unit, causing the toddler area now to consume 40% or more of the park.

About this time the neighborhood lost another crop of new parents, but the number of pet owners, continued to grow.
It seems the cycle for parents is three to four years - When the second child is born or school becomes a concern they move. Pet owners seem to be on a 7 or greater cycle.
Open areas of neighborhood like billboard property, ryan homes, where people took dogs, developed.

Limited Dog walker mid -day use began.
In 1996 (?) park renewal - neighbors turned packed earth, reseed roped off / closed park for three months to regrow.
Increased Dog walker mid -day use began.
In 1997 (?) Park renewal - City resodded closed park for ? months to regrow.
Increasing dog use.
In 1998 (?) Park renewal - City added fence at Baby Co-op request.
New fenced forces focal points for traffic,plus increasing dog use devastate growth of grass in major areas.
In 1999 (?) Park renewal - City added landscaped Northern end of park, (reseeded/resodded ? North end of park).
The official Dog walk area on US1 closed for repairs (when?)
Other areas of city ban dogs...
Drought, overuse and sand converted non-toddler area of park into wasteland.

2001 (?) City Council responded to request of dog users to confirm their right to use park, by designation park a official city "Dog Run". This significantly intensified day time dog use with dog walkers and conflicts with Citys proposed guidelines for "Dog Runs" as stated in a memo from Mr. Philip Sunderland, City Manager, to the Mayor and Members of the City Council of 7 Sep 2000, which provided proposed guidelines for dog parks, included six criteria for designation of dog parks, including the following:
#1: "Area must be at least 1/2 acre or 21,780 square feet."
#2: "Area must be at least 50 feet from a residential property line"
#6: "For Fenced Dog Parks, there must be adequate monies available to establish landscaping and buffers around the perimeter."