Plans for new amphitheater at Goudy Park

Artist rendering of the new and improved amphitheater in Goudy Park by Hennessey Engineers.

By Sarah Shurge – Big changes are coming to Goudy Park!
The amphitheater at Goudy Park was built in the 1990s and unfortunately, it had begun to fall apart. Over time, the structure had worn because of age, the seating, the retention wall, and the stage; as well as concrete that had a reaction that broke the concrete down prematurely.
The city of Wayne received two generous grants to fund the removal and replacement of the city’s 33-year-old amphitheater.
Thanks to the efforts of Senator Dayna Polehanki and United States Representative Rashida Tlaib in the amount of $1,050,000 and an additional $250,000 from Wayne County through their designated American Rescue Plan Act, groundbreaking for the amphitheater is finally happening.
During the city council meeting on Tuesday, August 20th, John Hennessey, Hennessey Engineers vice president, gave a presentation about Goudy Park. This presentation discussed the overall plan for the pavilion area and changes throughout the rest of the park.
“Our goal in developing this concept plan was really to create a road map for greater improvements beyond the project we have in front of us today and allow us to really pursue grant money because now we have a plan,” said Hennessey during the presentation.
The pavilion is currently located in the center of the reservoir. The plan is to remove the seating area and move the pavilion back to have a projection towards the river.
There will be a flower pattern that matches the existing circle in that area of Goudy Park. The flower pattern will be of washed aggregate concrete and white concrete will ribbon it with slight-gray textured concrete outside of that.
There will be planter boxes all the way around the circle. Hennessey and his team will come in the spring with a detailed planting list for the council to look at prior to awarding the project.
The new pavilion is 40×30. On each side of the stage is a 8-foot wide ramp for bands to be able to bring their equipment up. There will be a fence system and locked gates to isolate the band.
Hennessey explained to the council members how there will be a substantial amount of landscaping that will direct people to be in front of the pavilion and eliminate people from being in the parking lot behind the pavilion looking through there.
“We’re kind of taking that away from them, and really focusing more on the festival area,” said Hennessey.
Some of the council members were concerned about skateboarders using the ramps, however, Hennessey and his team already thought of precautions for that – the fence and washed aggregate concrete will make it uncomfortable for skateboarders to be there.
There will be a storage area which will provide storage for the Department of Public Works (DPW), the bands, and such.
Other plans include changing the parking lot, creating walkways, incorporating 2nd St, and putting in a new retaining wall.
“Repurposing this area to provide not only enhancements for the pavilion area and parking area, but actually increase access to 2nd St too,” said Hennessey. “So this all becomes kind of a cohesive enjoyment area for the community.”
Hennessey mentioned another thing being incorporated into the project at no additional cost, is a revamp of the bioswales in the parking lot.
The new plantings will be more harmonious to plantings in the park, however, they will still be native plants that fit the bioswales requirements of the Storm Water Management Ordinance, which is also approved by EGLE.
“We’ve done a tremendous amount of work in a very short time,” said Hennessey. “We represent 26 communities, and this community has really been well vested in this project and it’s been great to see.

Remaining columns of the amphitheater.

In case you were wondering, the picnic tables are being retained and there will be no change to current bathrooms.
Hennessey explained the second phase of the plan is made to complement the first phase. The future project is looking at creating potentially a splash pad for the public, plus relocating and updating the playscape area.
During the presentation, the timeline for the project was set as: put the project out in about two to two and a half weeks, get bids in September, and try to do flat work this year.
“Because we’re doing concrete work, we’re able to go much deeper into the season,” said Hennessey.
City Manager Diane Webb took a few minutes to explain the cost of this project to the council members and residents attending the meeting.
“We put the water reservoir remediation out to bid and put the park design out to bid. So not only would we be saving $1.6 million on the remediation of the water reservoir, John came in about $20,000 less than the design build,” said Webb. “By the time this is all said and done, we probably saved about $1.8 million on the overall project from what was projected earlier.”
Some council members then wanted to take a moment to acknowledge the amount that was saved.
“I just wanted to say I really appreciate you guys working very hard on this,” said Don Quarles, councilperson. “1.8 million dollars was saved, that’s a huge amount of money.”
After the council was satisfied from asking multiple questions about the plan, the motion carried with all “yeses” from the council.
“This is a big deal for our community and for being able to keep the concert series going. So thank you for all your efforts and for the administration for all their work in making this,” said Wayne Mayor John Rhaesa.
If you want to watch the full city council meeting to listen to the presentation for yourself, scan the QR code and skip ahead to 1:47:42 timestamp.
To learn more about Hennessey Engineers, visit hengineers.com or email info@hengineers.com.
“We’re very happy to be part of the community and this is going to be a great project. It’s going to be a lot of fun,” said Hennessey.
Construction officially started on the groundwork at Goudy Park on Monday, September 23rd. Be sure to drive by the park to see the progress!