The city wants help from community members to name two new parks coming to Santa Ana.

One project at Standard and McFadden avenues is adding a park with a playground, an area for skateboarding, a basketball court, picnic tables, and a grassy area for lounging and picnicking. The park is expected to open to the public this October.

Residents can submit their name ideas in an online forum or vote for one of the pre-submitted options: Cornerstone Park, Gerardo Mouet Park or Hibiscus Park. Mouet served many years as Santa Ana’s parks and recreation director.

A rendering of the proposed dog park. Santa Ana dog owners, along with their pets, met with city officials in Santa Ana to discuss an undeveloped portion of Centennial Park. They are talking about building the city’s first dog park on Saturday September 7, 2022.(Photos by Karen Tapia, Contributing Photographer)

The second project needing a name will be a dog play space in Centennial Park. The city is remaking 4.6 acres of Centennial into a dog park that will have separate areas for large dogs, smaller dogs, and older and disabled dogs. Pets will also be able to enjoy a water play area to splash around in and a separate wash station. A new recreational area will include a walking path, bench seats and picnic tables.

This project has been identified as a priority by the city, officials said, and is in the early stages of development while funding is being identified. Some pre-selected name options are Bark Park at Centennial Park, Happy Tails at Centennial Park, Perros al Lado del Río en Centennial Park, Puskas Memorial Dog Park, and Tail Trails at Centennial Park. Puskas was a former police dog in the Santa Ana department.

If you want to suggest your own names for the parks, some guidelines the city has include names could reference distinct geographic, environmental or development features in the immediate area, reference the history of the subject site or its immediate area, or identify a notable community member, which could include officials, but not anyone who currently holds any such position.

The deadline to make suggestions or cast votes for names for both parks is July 14 and can be done at at santa-ana.org/help-us-name-our-parks. They will be reviewed at the next Parks, Recreation and Community Services Commission on July 27.

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