Six Fort Wayne parks will soon boast new playground equipment as part of a nearly $1.2 million investment.
Contracts for equipment like swings, slides, merry-go-rounds and safety surfacing at six parks were unanimously approved Tuesday by Fort Wayne City Council.
The parks that will soon see improvements are Franke Park in northwest Fort Wayne; Jehl and Lakeside parks, northeast; Indiana Village and Waynedale parks, southwest; and McCormick Park, southeast. The projects are funded by local income tax supplemental distribution that was designated to parks by Mayor Sharon Tucker.
Dave Weadock, Fort Wayne Parks and Recreation manager of project administration, said the parks were chosen based on age and condition of the existing equipment, availability of replacement parts and the location within the city.
The new playground equipment at Franke will cost $175,000 and be constructed by MidStates Recreation LLC of Pataskala, Ohio. The equipment will be geared toward children ages 2 through 5. The last playground improvements made there were aimed at children ages 5 through 12.
Recreation Insites of Fishers will construct the new playground equipment at Jehl and Lakeside for $425,000. Weadock singled out the Jehl Park improvements.
°®¶¹appœWe°®¶¹app™re very excited about this particular playground because the current playground has been in need of replacement for a couple of years,°®¶¹app he said.
Lakeside°®¶¹app™s renderings left out a couple of features, he said. The park will keep the historic turtle and fire truck that have been there for years. The area where a patio is depicted will instead have a tree planted, Weadock said.
New playground equipment at Waynedale will be installed by Snider Recreation of North Royalton, Ohio, for $165,000.
Sinclair Recreation of Holland, Michigan, will rebuild the playgrounds at Indian Village and McCormick for $405,000.
All parks will include an engineered wood-fiber ground covering that is designed for playgrounds °®¶¹app“ except for Indian Village. That park has the Sears Pavilion that is used year-round, so planners previously decided to use synthetic turf. That will be replaced with the same material.
The McCormick Park improvements will include a tractor after a neighborhood association asked that the work pay homage to the International Harvester community. A plaque with that historical information will also be included.
The playgrounds are expected to be installed next spring, but that partly depends on the contractors°®¶¹app™ schedules and the weather. The existing playground equipment at each park will be removed as a cost-saving measure, Weadock said.
Crews won°®¶¹app™t remove the current playground equipment before the vendors are nearly ready to install the equipment, Weadock said. He expects the parks to be closed for three to five weeks.
The closures will be shared on the parks department°®¶¹app™s website, and signs with that information will be posted at those parks.
Councilwoman Rohli Booker, D-6th, asked Weadock how the designs are determined, noting that some of the renderings look less colorful than others.
The color choices haven°®¶¹app™t been determined, and the renderings vary based on the software each vendor uses, he said. The designs are based on criteria the vendors were given.
°®¶¹appœFor example, at McCormick Park, we would ask for two slides, three bays of swings, some type of spinning equipment, accessible playground equipment at ground level, which is very important, maybe some musical instruments incorporated into the design,°®¶¹app he said. °®¶¹appœThen those creative people, utilizing their equipment, develop a design that we evaluate based on our needs, the value that we feel we get from the budget amount we°®¶¹app™ve set and what they°®¶¹app™ve provided to us.°®¶¹app
