Sportsmen’s Park new playground goes up, then taken down

By Bob Steenson, bsteenson@charlescitypress.com

A new playground in Sportsmen’s Park won’t be officially dedicated until the spring, but it may be available to play on yet this year if the weather permits.

The mostly inclusive playground will include features that are accessible to children with a wide range of physical needs and abilities, and will eventually have a wheelchair-friendly poured rubber surface covering the ground.

The playground pieces were nearly all put together a month ago, but then it was discovered that the company that provided the equipment and is doing the installation took away too much dirt when it was leveling the play area.

At first the company, Play-Pro Recreation of Clive, talked about building a retaining wall around the play area, which “would have looked amazing” and provided places to sit, said Tyler Mitchell, director of the Charles City Parks and Recreation Department.

But then they considered the flooding problems that Sportsmen’s Park has, and decided the better plan would be to take down the play equipment and fill some of the dirt back in, Mitchell said.

“If it was in any other park we’d have the retaining wall get built and it’d be just fine, because no other park that we have a playground in gets underwater as much as Sportsmen’s,” he said.

Some of the dirt that was scraped off had already been hauled away, so now the company is waiting for some more dirt to be brought in, then it can reconstruct the play areas.

“Once the dirt gets in, they’re going to work nonstop ‘til it’s done,” Mitchell said.

The Charles City Parks and Recreation Board had hoped the project could be finished this fall in time to hold a grand opening and dedication. The playground is being named in memory of Donna White, whose son, Steve, made a $50,000 donation toward the park in her honor.

Total cost of the playground is about $263,000.

White, who lives in Florida, plans to attend the grand opening, but time for that has run short this year, and now another piece to the park puzzle has been added that won’t be finished until he spring, Mitchell said.

The Charles City Rotary Club is donating a concrete pad with a large canopy, handicapped-accessible picnic tables and benches that will probably be built west of the playground, he said.

It won’t be as big as another shelter house, but will provide a spot where people can sit and watch their kids play, he said.

That will be built in the spring, then once it’s finished both the playground and the rest area will have a grand opening and dedication.

“We’re just going to do a two-for-one, once it’s all done,” Mitchell said.

He said he didn’t know exactly when the playground will be finished, “But if it gets put up in three or four weeks and there’s nice days in December the kids can go play on it. We’ll just have a grand opening in the springtime.”

Part of the outer edges of the playground will be covered with rubber pellets instead of a poured rubber surface, so that’s why the playground won’t be considered 100% accessible.

Editor’s note: Article was updated to correct the name of the club that will be donating the pad and canopy at Sportsmen’s Park to the Charles City Rotary Club.