How does Summerlin plan its parks?

Before the first residents had even moved into Summerlin in 1990, Howard Hughes Holdings, who spearheaded the master-planned community, completed the first major park called The Hills.

A year later the first family moved in and Kenton Miersma, one of the many minds behind Summerlin’s parks, said this has always been the modus operandi for the community.

Miersma, a principal at LandDesign, who have done the “lion’s share” of the landscape architecture for the community that includes streetscapes and parks, said Howard Hughes has followed that mantra since the 1990s.

“They decided to make a statement right out of the gate, plant their flag and build a park as the first thing they built,” he said. “They wanted to come out of the gate and say we are going to be about parks and open spaces, and positioning the community around the open spaces. And that’s the mentality, the philosophy.”

300 parks, 200-plus miles of trail systems in Summerlin

Summerlin now boasts more than 300 parks within it’s boundary and four in the works. Within that, there are 32 large community parks and a wide array of amenities including 20 tennis courts, 14 baseball diamonds, 13 basketball courts, 11 soccer fields, eight pickleball courts and one outdoor roller hockey rink, among others.

There are also 200-plus miles within its trail system, comprised of six types of trails. Miersma said Summerlin has a “regionally appropriate” goal regarding its plant palette, using “native inspired” foliage. This process of design begins as soon as a homebuilder purchases land from Howard Hughes, who have stipulations built into each land sale.

“(Howard Hughes Holdings) are what they call a super pad developer so they’ve developed infrastructure, they’ve developed streets, and then they sell smaller parcels to homebuilders,” he said. “But what they have done on the planning side is they are requiring community parks when they sell that piece of land when it’s developed.”

Summerlin currently encompasses 22,500 acres with around 5,000 left to develop, and Danielle Bisterfeldt, senior vice president of marketing and consumer experience for Summerlin, said parks and trails have long played a significant role in shaping Summerlin’s quality of life as part of the master plan that dictates acreage for recreational opportunities.

“As we continue to remove grass in common areas that is considered decorative and non-functional with the goal of saving water, and with reductions in grass at individual homes, parks are becoming even more significant to support quality of life by accommodating play, sports, recreation and social gathering,” she said.

Miersma said for Summerlin, which has around 127,000 residents, building a community around open spaces instead of stacking homes side by side for maximum value should be the standard, however it’s not and this is what gives the community a distinct feel as soon as you enter its jurisdiction.

“From the design side, what specifically is happening in Summerlin is committing a heck of a lot more of their real estate to landscaping the environment than what you would see outside in a more conventional development in Las Vegas.”

Contact Patrick Blennerhassett at pblennerhassett@reviewjournal.com.