Enchanted Hills Community Park
City of Perris
Creating Community Award of Excellence
The construction of the 22-acre Enchanted Hills Community Park (“Park”) supports the California Action Plan and the Parks Make Life Better! campaign by drastically improving the quality of life for residents of this park deficient and very low-income neighborhood that had zero (0) park acres, per 1,000 residents. Both the California Action Plan and the Parks Make Life Better! campaign aim to achieve goals by creating and connecting community through people, parks, and programs. These goals promote health and wellness, recreational experiences, foster social cohesiveness, strengthen community identity and sense of place. In 2016, Perris launched the Parks Make Life Better! campaign to develop more parks within City boundaries and increase access to green spaces for residents where they can partake in recreational opportunities, and physical activity. The Enchanted Hills community was identified as a park deficient neighborhood with limited access to green space, which negatively impacted their physical, emotional, and mental health.
The City of Perris identified 22-acres of vacant and undeveloped land and worked effortlessly for various years to acquire these privately owned parcels in hopes of one day developing a quality and safe park space for residents. The 22 acres of land had become an extremely blighted location being utilized as a makeshift dumping site that was detrimental to the safety, health, and welfare of the community. The Park site was considered unsightly, unsafe, abandoned, and uninhabitable. Consequently, residents would complain about the amount of waste, abandoned couches, old mattresses, piles of used tires, and large debris that had been illegally dumped. Neighborhood youth played on the streets in the dark, and the lack of site lighting attracted public nuisance and illegal activity. All these factors contributed to a lack of community identity and an absence of physical, emotional, mental health and wellness opportunities.
The now completed 22-acre Enchanted Hills Park transformed this neighborhood into a revitalized, landscaped, and vibrant community. The Park features a host of amenities requested by Enchanted Hills residents who provided their feedback through extensive community outreach efforts hosted by the City. Some of these park amenities include a multi-use open grass field, an all-inclusive playground, a water splash pad, two full-size basketball courts, a BMX track, hiking trails, a skate spot, zip lines, an adventure course with fitness equipment, park lighting, decorative furnishings, group gathering areas, and landscaping. These amenities promote health and wellness, strengthening community identity in their built environment.
