Cheney Lake Park - 2010 Fix-It Complete!

2245 Baxter Road

What's New

In Summer 2010, the Anchorage Park Foundation and Parks & Recreation Department partnered with the Northeast Very Important Parks (VIP) Committee to identify priority repairs and recruit volunteers to accomplish park improvements in Cheney Lake Park, a community center for walking, fishing, boating and wintertime ice skating. Parks volunteers were eager to improve the park amenities while preserving and emphasizing the natural beauty of the park. The VIP Committee elected to focus community resources on:

• Improving trail user safety by removing hazardous pea gravel in trail corridors and replacing it with more stable D1 gravel;
  
• Creating new pathways linking the play area to the walking trail around the lake;
  
• Beginning an erosion remediation project on the west lank bank;
  
• Installing updated signs;
  
• Installing new benches and trash cans; and
  
• Removing graffiti and replacing components of the play equipment.
  

APF and APRD engaged teen crews from the Youth Employment in Parks program to complete the trail repairs improving drainage and safety.

This internal leveraging of resources connects teens to opportunities to develop job skills while accomplishing visible improvements to neighborhood parks.

In Summer 2010, parks volunteers completed the "fix-its" in Cheney Lake Park. Volunteers, staff, Youth Employment in Parks crews, and contractors removed graffiti, rehabilitated trails, replaced the slide, refurbished the play equipment, and installed new trash cans and benches. Thanks to the Northeast Community Council parks committee for their involvement in prioritizing repairs and recruiting volunteers!

The APF is proud to fund neighborhood park fix-its with support from the Rasmuson Foundation & the Alaska State Legislature.

Park History

Until 1972, this area was a gravel extraction site. It later became a man-made lake. During this time the area was used for swimming in the summer and snowmobiling in the winter. State funds were used to purchase additional land for this park in 1975. The park also received Land & Water Conservation Fund monies to help build trails and landscape the area. The lake is named for Roy Cheney who came to Alaska in 1942 to supervise military construction.

Features & Amenities

• Accessible play equipment for 2-5 year olds
• Accessible play eqipment for 5-12 year olds
  
• Lighted ice skating on the lake in the winter and boating in the summer
  
• The lake is 34 acres in size and has a depth of 3’ to 15’; no motorized crafts are allowed
  
• Parking lot with 30 spaces
  
• Portable restroom on site from May to September