Plans are underway to make Lou Hartfiel Memorial Park in Crescent Springs more inclusive.
At Monday’s city council meeting, Crescent Springs Director of Public Works Tonya Miller presented the finalized plans and costs for the park renovations. After an anonymous donation and a grant, the city projects the cost of the playground remodel to be around $235,000.
After speaking with three different companies about the design of the playground equipment as well as the city’s budget, Miracle Playgrounds of Kentucky and Tennessee offered the best option for the city, said Miller. Warranties on parts as well as maintenance plans came included with the purchase of the equipment, said the Public Works Department.
With inclusivity at the heart of these plans, Miller said changes to the materials that will be used were taken into consideration. After the first proposal for the park was released, a local group of moms reached out to the city to give their input on the equipment. This non-profit group of 100 moms visits two playgrounds a week in the Northern Kentucky and Cincinnati area. Miller said this group helped to open her eyes to the possibilities of an inclusive playground.
“If you’re doing an all-inclusive playground, which we are, then wheelchairs and walkers and things will not be able to go on mulch,” said Miller. Instead, the plan is to pour a rubber surface at the base of the playground to help make the park accessible to all types of children.
Not only will the ground surface change, but the equipment itself will too. Miller said that the group of moms introduced her to the idea of “underdeck play,” leading to the addition of various panels below the playground structure itself.
“In this structure… the entire panel is see-through… there are no blind spots. We have a lot of music panels, we have braille, we have sign language panels,” Miller described. The model also incorporates a “wheelchair accessible rocker” where the “whole entire unit swings,” as well as wheelchair accessibility all the way to the top level of the structure.
“From the surface to the top, it’s all-inclusive. And that’s my main goal. I want children of all ages and types to enjoy this park,” said Miller.
With this model, a large area of the park will be left unused. For now, the public works department hopes to add extra seating in this space but is open to the possibilities of other additions like a pickleball or sand volleyball court.
Grant funding approval for the project is expected in the first months of the coming year. However, the decision to move forward with the model from Miracle Playgrounds needs to be made no later than the first of December to ensure installation in April of 2024.
Not moving forward with this model would leave the park in its current state for another year, as the rubber cannot be poured in certain months due to weather conditions, said representatives from the public works department.
The city council will meet again on Nov. 13 to make a final decision to move forward with this proposed plan for Lou Hartfiel Memorial Park. If approved, installation of the new playground equipment will begin in April of 2024, with removal of the old equipment starting 90 days prior.
