The McCoy Annex plan takes advantage of existing recreational facilities and environmentally constrained areas to create a wide range of active and passive open spaces. In designing the major community parks on the NTC properties, Glatting-Jackson team has endeavored to create a pastoral landscape that is both peaceful and beautiful, with a balance of active and passive uses. Each community park is comprised of several very large outdoor rooms, defined by trees, some with program and some without. The edges of each outdoor room are 'fuzzy' or receding, softening the appearance of the lawns and enhancing a restful park feeling. Shaded Paths along the edges allow comfortable circulation and informal picnic and seating spaces to observe recreational activities.
Paths also meander to create smaller spaces, folding minor program into the composition.
Public Participation Public participation in the NTC Parks Master Plan included several elements. Public workshops were held in November 1998 to hear public comment about NTC parks and recreation issues before the consultant team began their work. Newsletters focusing on the Parks Master Plan were distributed to a mailing list of over 2500 subscribers at key points in the planning process. Representatives of the Parks and Recreation staffs of Orlando, Winter Park and Orange County served on a staff committee which met with the consultant on a regular basis to guide the project. Finally, a citizen review committee composed of neighborhood residents, developer representatives, representatives of sports associations, as well as the entire staff committee, met with the consultant team twice to provide additional input to the plan.