Continuing with the work done by the Advanced Site Design Studio in the spring of 2003, the CCDR worked throughout the summer to develop a master plan design for Lexington Park. 

Before design alternatives were developed, community comments about the park gathered by the students were analyzed in combination with community feedback about the design proposals.  This information was summarized in and presented to the community during the first in a series of two summer workshops to make sure that designers were clearly hearing community concerns and wishes for the redesign of the park.  The first workshop also allowed the CCDR to present some case studies showing alternate ways of thinking about parks and community.  Feedback from this workshop gave designers a clearer understanding of what to include in the two design alternatives.

The two design alternatives were developed to both contrast and complement each other to allow the community to more easily identify elements that they liked from each design.  Having more than one design allowed designers to include certain elements, such as the water feature, in only one design to gauge the community’s reaction to its exclusion in the other design.  This allowed designers to gain a better understanding of what community members felt was necessary to include in the final design.  These designs were presented to the community in the second series of workshops, coordinated with ENIP personnel and teens in the Eastside Youth Congress summer program.  Community members were able, over a period of three days, to comment on the two designs.  Once this feedback was analyzed, a final master plan design was developed.  By the end of the summer, the plan was ready to be submitted to the City of Syracuse with the hopes that phase one, the installation of a new playground facility, be started by the end of the year.