PARKS AND RECREATION
Master Planning • Landscape Architecture • Site Design • Engineering • Sports Design
CREATIVE SOLUTIONS TAILORED TO YOUR COMMUNITY
CHA is a multidisciplinary engineering, design and construction management firm working with our clients on their most critical challenges.
Our parks and recreation specialists are nationally recognized experts in the design of passive and active recreational spaces. Comprised of landscape architects, engineers, architects, turf specialists, and aquatics experts, our team has planned and designed sports and recreational projects at over 200 municipal parks and complexes across the country. Our team is well-versed in working in municipal settings — collaborating with community members, advisory committees, boards, and other stakeholders to develop both active and passive venues that promote wellbeing.
Driven by hard work built on long-term relationships and successful growth, our experts offer innovative solutions to meet the changing challenges of site planning, architecture, and design while keeping our clients’ budgets a priority. Our qualified staff of landscape architects and engineers are able to provide a range of services from preliminary site planning and construction cost estimating, site feasibility and due diligence, to full construction design and permitting with great attention to quality control and assurance. We pride ourselves on proven professionalism with the experience and technology to tailor our services around the needs of the client and requirements of the project. Our team has decades of experience on public infrastructure improvements, including municipal recreation facilities.
Master Planning
We have extensive experience with individual site and municipal-wide park, recreation and open space planning. Our team has master planned more than 200 parks and recreational facilities nationwide.
Landscape Design
Our team designs functional and aesthetically pleasing outdoor spaces for park systems. We focus on sustainable practices, using native plants and green infrastructure to manage stormwater.
Our Services
Full Engineering Design Architecture
Landscape Architecture
Indoor/Outdoor Sports Design
Site Design
Drainage Improvements
Parking Lot Design
Permitting
Cost Estimating Construction Administration
Master Planning
Facility Condition Assessments Programming Renovations
Trails & Greenspace
Our team specializes in designing sustainable and accessible trails. Our designs incorporate various structures like check steps, puncheons, and bridges to enhance usability and durability.
Bethel Woods Center for the Arts
Bethel Woods Center for the Arts is a cultural center located on the site of the 1969 Woodstock Festival. CHA provided civil engineering and landscape architectural design services for a 4,800-seat performance pavilion, 1,000-seat amphitheater, museum and interpretive center, and retail space. The site boasts 350,000 SF of elegant walkways and plazas where guests are treated to arresting views of open meadows as they follow walkways around water features with living ecosystems.
Jones Beach State Park East Mall
The Jones Beach Revitalization Plan seeks to restore and revitalize the popular State Park off the shore of Long Island. The first project undertaken was the renewal of the East Mall area, including a new East Mall Market Building and surrounding landscape. CHA designed a two-acre passive and active recreation area adjacent to the Boardwalk. The site includes shuffleboard courts, fixed ping-pong tables, bocce courts, picnic tables, and shade structures. This site is also complemented with native plantings.
Playgrounds
We have planned and designed play structures of various sizes for all ages and uses. Our team has extensive experience with all surfaces types from wood chips to high-quality soft rubber.
Tivoli Park Preserve Stream Daylighting
Tivoli Park Preserve in Albany is the secondlargest urban preserve in New York State and has undergone many master planning efforts over the last one hundred years. The Albany Water Board saw the opportunity to jumpstart the preserve redevelopment by tackling the largest piece: daylighting more than 1/3 mile of the culverted Patroon Creek. CHA’s design team created a meandering channel using boulders and stones from local quarries. A native plant palette supported local wildlife and pollinators to make the stream look like it had always been there.
Reflection and Learning Garden
CHA led the conceptual design and visioning process of the new public park space in Albany, NY. The site includes constructed wetlands, pollinator meadows, outdoor classrooms, a meditation labyrinth, a human sundial, a rustic pavilion, and nature-based play structures. CHA worked closely with community members on the concept design for the park. Our designers created a 3D model of the site and developed several perspective renderings and animations to communicate the design concept with community.
Sports Fields & Courts
CHA is a leader in the design of athletic fields and courts. Our experts have designed over 1000 turf and grass fields and some of the nation’s primier courts; we know the details that make these surfaces work.
City Park Master Planning
CHA developed master plans for improvements within 21 parks within the City of Troy, NY. Our sports and recreation team developed concept plans including active recreational uses such as spray pads, basketball courts, and play structures, and passive recreational facilities such as walking paths, seating, chess playing areas, and fishing platforms. CHA also developed a Parks Standards Manual for equipment and other items such as signage and fencing, as well as maintenance practices.
Harlem Valley Rail Trail
The Harlem Valley Rail Trail includes 26+ paved miles through stunning rural Dutchess and Columbia County landscapes. CHA provided preliminary design services, including environmental and right-of-way services for constructing an eight-mile-long shared-use trail routed along the abandoned Harlem Valley Railroad right-of-way. Our team provided all design services, emphasizing natural habitat, agricultural districts, Section 4(f) lands, wetlands, and threatened and endangered species.
Aquatics
Our team includes pool and spa operators certified by the National Swimming Pool Foundation. Our portfolio of distinctive aquatic venues includes pools, waterparks, spas, rides and spray grounds.
MEET OUR EXPERTS
Nick Schwartz, RLA, LEED AP
Landscape Architect
Nick has over 31 years of diversified experience in the fields of planning and landscape architecture. He manages sustainable and green design applications, urban design, streetscape enhancements, and community redevelopments.
Diane Tirinato, RLA
Landscape Architect
Diane has over six years of experience in multidisciplinary planning and landscape architecture. She supports CHA’s land development group with site planning and concept design, landscape planting, and visual impact assessment services for a wide range of client types.
Cady Lindsay, RLA
Landscape Architect
Cady has seven years of experience in design, schematic design and construction documentation. Her projects have included recreational parks, soccer and baseball complexes, synthetic and natural turf fields, track and field facilities, and swimming pools.
John Hickok, PE
Sports Designer
John brings 28 years of experience and leads CHA’s sports team. He has worked on the planning and design for virtually every form of sports and recreation activity, from youth to professional for municipalities, educational facilities, and private developers.
Rebecca Lederer, PLA
Landscape Architect
Rebecca is a highly skilled landscape architect. With a focus on comprehensive project management, she excels in design development, client communication, documentation, budgeting, and overseeing construction installations.
Ed O’Hara, RLA
Landscape Architect
Ed is one of the country’s premier sports designers. He has designed and overseen the installation of over 350 synthetic turf fields and over 400 natural grass turf fields. Ed has 34 years of sports facility planning, landscape architecture and project management experience.
Mike Moonan, RLA, LEED AP
Landscape Architect
Mike has 27 years of experience in parks, sports and recreation design. Mike has managed all aspects of projects from master planning and conceptual design to construction document preparation, specification preparation, and construction administration.
David Savage, PE, CPO
Aquatics Engineer
David has 34 years of experience in aquatic, civil, sports and recreation, buildings, and geo-environmental projects. His responsibilities have ranged from designer to project manager, requiring participation at all levels of various project types.
