Willow Bend Park in The Conservatory

For my first exurban park, I will review Willow Bend Park at 20646 E Eastman Ave, in the Conservatory Neighborhood.  Here is a map of the neighborhood:

The Conservatory at the Plains is a very boring exurban community, made entirely of single family homes with tiny backyards..  It is bounded on the south by Hampden Avenue, on the west by a swath of right-of-way where Himalaya Street should be, on the north by right-of-way where Yale Avenue should be, and on the east by an imaginary line where Picadilly Road should be.  The nearest town center is at Tower and Hampden, just over a mile away.  The nearest fire station is fire station 10, a few blocks south of Tower and Hampden.

To the east is the Plains Conservation Center.  Now we could appreciate it somewhat if this was forest land, or wetland, but it is just dry prairie grass.  What is so special about this land that it has to be preserved?  There are billions of acres of land to the east that is identical.  This is prime land that is next to a major arterial and next to a superhighway (E-470).  Now this is also south of a runway at Buckley Air Force base and nobody wants to be worried about a plane crash or about the noise.  So I think that is the real reason for its existence.

The centerpiece of this neighborhood is the Aurora Frontier School.  There is a large grassy area next to the school, but it isn't open to the public, only to kids.  So the exurban park is Willow Bend Park, and here is a picture of it:

The description of Willow Bend Park is: 0.3 acres, picnic shelter, playground, access to Conservatory West Trail.  Right next to the park is open space.

There are 2 other parks in the neighborhood: Blue Grama Grass Park (1 acre), which is literally just grass next to open space, and Switchgrass Park (4.3 acres), on the northside of the map, which is a little nicer, but it isn't in the center of the community, and it is bounded by open space on the west and is close to the open space prairie on the east.

So there is my review of Willow Bend Park, the central park of the Conservatory.  I give it a D.  It has no pond, no flowers, but it does have a walking trail.  And it is an official park, which means that the city is paying to water, mow and otherwise maintain it, so it qualifies as a "folly", and is right next to open space.  So I am not impressed.