WICHITA, Kan. (KAKE) - Friday, Wesley Medical Center announced that after so much community pushback, it's backing out of its plan to buy the land next to the hospital to turn it into a parking lot.

"I have a lot of family that had been in the hospital, like I had said, and there's not very many good, like, nature areas around here," said Zalecia Stone-Nance.

Stone-Nance has spent endless hours at Wesley taking care of sick family members. She says the little park on the east side of the building helped her through some of the toughest days.

"There's not really good places you can sit and have peace of mind, especially when you have patients or family in the hospital," said Stone-Nance.

Wesley held a public meeting Tuesday letting people know its plans to buy the park and turn it into a parking lot, but community members made it clear they weren't going down without a fight.

Sleepy Hollow Neighborhood Association President Dan Heflin says it's a fight that's been going on for years now.

"Fifteen years ago, I got to be the president of the neighbor association, and the outgoing president said watch out for Wesley. They're gonna be coming back," Heflin said.

Heflin says Friday, after all these years, he got the news they were all hoping for.

"We were successful, and Wesley withdrew their offer for buying the park," said Heflin.

A Wesley spokesperson told KAKE News that residents made it clear they were not in favor of the plan, so the hospital is moving in a different direction, but there is no information yet on what the alternative plan is.

Heflin says he considers this a big win for the neighborhood, but his job isn't done yet.

"I would like to find some funds somehow through a grant or donations or maybe some arrangements with the city to enhance the park," he said.

"I just hope they don't try to bring that back up later on. Because parks are a big part of the whole community. You can't really have a city without community," said Stone-Nance.

Heflin says he plans to continue pushing the city to invest in the park, including possibly adding a fence so kids can't run out into these busy streets.