City of Westfield Grand Park
A Challenge Beyond the Game
Grand Park sports complex in Westfield, Indiana has 26 baseball and softball fields, 33 soccer and multipurpose fields, a 370,000 square-foot events center (equipped with indoor turf fields, full-service restaurant and sports bar, entertainment and convention space), a field house and
7 concessions, over 10 miles of paved trails, over 4,500 parking spaces, all on a massive 400-acre site, flattened out and configured to serve any team, game, concert or special event you can imagine. In its first year, Grand Park attendance was shy of one million.
Building a reputation as one of the largest youth sports complexes in the U.S. and a place that is pioneering the business of recreational sports took considerable vision. Westfield would become a landmark that would attract everyone from the amateur to the aspiring professional
athlete, from children to collegiate to adult. The result is many feet walking, running, and moving throughout the site. (As many as 200,000 pairs over a typical summer weekend.)
The whole idea of any sport is to present a challenge.The facility of Grand Park is its own tremendous challenge. There are grounds to maintain, systems to service, an infrastructure to support, and at the top of the list—the requirement for public safety. “How do we notify everyone quickly, when a storm can pop up any minute?” Sam Rivard asks rhetorically, when describing the purpose of a communication system that goes well beyond the need for general announcements. Rivard is the project manager for Grand Park and the City of Westfield Department of Informatics. “In the beginning, we might have twenty to thirty staff running around in golf carts with megaphones, telling people where to go. It was not only inefficient, but it also put people in more of a panic or confused mode than any kind of orderly system.”
Valcom Covers the Field
Sam Rivard knew even at the earliest stages of development that Grand Park would require a robust communication and emergency notification system. The park is operated with great efficiency, contracting most of its facility maintenance and event and sports management services; and even his department is only managed by a staff of three full-time and a few part-time people. However public safety demanded a network continued level of coverage that could be both flexible and fully optimized for multiple purposes.
After looking at product options on the market that were either subscription-based, had connectivity issues, or were too expensive, Rivard and crew—along with the recommendation of integrator Open Control Systems— found Valcom to be the best solution at Grand Park.
Using audible tones and voice announcements, the Valcom system, coupled with strobe light alerts, can notify people throughout the 400-acre complex.
“Valcom is flexible, agile, and always working,” Rivard says. “It handles our standard announcements as well as coverage for emergency incidents and critical notifications. Valcom covers everything from our real thunderstorm and lightning threats to potential hazards, which thankfully, we haven’t had to employ, such as active shooter or tornado.”
Rivard says he likes the fact that Valcom is accessible from any authorized point on the city’s wide area network; controlled through a computer desktop or even a mobile phone. Valcom’s system dashboard provides a graphical representation of the complete facility; and device adds, moves, and changes can be easily incorporated with click-and-drag operations instead of complex programming. “Valcom even gives us ‘thresholds,’ “ Rivard continues. “For example, depending on the game, whether it’s baseball or soccer or whatever, or depending on the age of the players, or even certain tournament rules or regulations, games can continue or cancel, or be delayed based on the weather. The flexibility of Valcom is a real advantage, and knowing how scalable it is will be of great service to us as we expand and place it in other areas. In fact, this park isn’t even the end game. We have much more commercial development to go on top of other municipal facilities and services.”
Going into overtime
Sam Rivard says the communication system at Grand Park is the first of its kind at this scale and there hasn’t been a single incident when people couldn’t be notified. The integrator for the Westfield showcase agrees that performance is the most important objective to meet.
“The scalability of the Valcom product line is beneficial in any application,” says Gerry Murphy, vice president of sales at Open Control Systems. “But for a site like Grand Park, it makes all the difference in the world. And when integrated into the city’s wide-area-network, when we’re looking at expansion into other municipal facilities, we are well-equipped for the future.
Murphy, who says he is currently spending about twothirds of his time servicing the City of Westfield, cites a simple but significant advantage of using Valcom components: “You don’t throw away product.” Open Control Systems is a communications and network contractor with offices in three states, including its Indianapolis branch servicing Westfield. The company
provides network installation and support, covering everything from security, access control, surveillance, audio-visual, and emergency notification.
“We like having both brute force products as well as the sophistication of IP appliances,” Murphy continues. “With a 400-acre site like Grand Park, you’re not going to have a ‘small problem.’ You need a system with components that are dependable and durable.”
Surprisingly, the big numbers that describe Grand Park aren’t exactly replicated by the Valcom components used to support the complex. There are speakers and horns strategically placed, along with the drivers and components to manage the alerts and announcements, but hardly an overkill configuration.
Rivard and Murphy agree that the system is more than adequate to respond to the park’s demands; and it will grow along with future expansion and any special configuration needed. However, a review of the installation reveals a lean equipment list, considering the mission at hand. “Between the outdoor fields, the buildings, the concession stands, parking lots and pathways, I am very satisfied with how well Valcom covers the entire area,” Rivard says.
High scoring
Daryl Cooper quotes many accolades Westfield has received recently, including its designation as “the number one small city in the U.S.” by WalletHub and its 2016 survey. The city personnel involved in the communication system upgrade are “on cloud nine,” he says; and “everyone is already talking about the next steps, from the fire station to city hall to other parks and facilities. The ultimate application is citizen access to the mobile app,” says Cooper. Keeping all patrons and attendees at Grand Park safe, secure, and informed is a big task and responsibility
no one takes lightly. To compete on one of the nation’s largest, most impressive, and sought-after sports complexes is highly desirable; but it still requires having the right equipment.
That requirement is no different for the communication system. Valcom accepts its MVP designation.