Arnold City Park will have a new playground next year.
City Council members voted unanimously Dec. 7 to pay $304,709 to Hutchison Recreation and Design of Lake St. Louis for the playground and installation. The playground is manufactured by Miracle.
The park on Bradley Beach Road near the Meramec River has not had a playground since September when it was closed and then removed after Parks and Recreation Department employees discovered numerous parts on the structure were rotting.
“It is kind of an early Christmas present for the community,” Parks and Recreation Department Director Dave Crutchley said of the contract being approved for the new playground. “It looks somewhat depressing down there with just that bare field (where the old playground stood).”
Crutchley said the new playground is expected to be installed by the end of May.
“I think (the playground) will be a good addition to the park, and I think the community will enjoy it,” City Administrator Bryan Richison said. “I think it will be an improvement over what we had before.”
The new playground area will be larger than the previous area, and city staff will clear the area for the expanded playground, Crutchley said.
“Hutchison Recreation will do everything else,” he said. “They will install the equipment and lay out the mulch. Then we have a certified playground inspector who will come out to inspect it.”
Bigger and better
Crutchley said the new playground will be about twice the size as the previous one, and the main portion will have a two-tier tower system with a 2-foot deck and an 8-foot deck. Two towers will be connected by a bridge, and on the upper level, a slide will come off each of the towers.
He said an ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act)-accessible ramp system will be included on the lower level of the tower system, allowing access to the 2-foot deck. The system also will have a small slide off the 2-foot deck and multiple climbing structures to reach the upper deck.
According to an artist rendering of the playground that Hutchinson provided, the tower system is recommended for children between the ages of 5 and 12.
Along with the large tower structure, the playground will include a smaller 2-foot platform and structure recommended for children between the ages of 2 and 5. That structure has steps, a ladder and a small slide.
“We wanted something that kids can play on for years,” Crutchley said. “I think we will see more people down there using it because there will be more stuff for older children. Before, the playground was for children between the ages of 2 to about 7. The new playground will have things for children at least as old as 12 and maybe even older.”
The playground also will have a net spinner, a merry-go-round-type structure with a cone-shaped net stretched over the top. The playground will include two climbing structures, one with monkey bars and the other a pyramid-shaped jungle gym.
A swing set with traditional bench swings, a bucket swing, an ADA-accessible swing and a generation swing, which allows an adult to swing with a child, will be installed in the area.
The base cost for the playground is $272,750, but the City Council decided to add two features, which increased the cost.
One of those additional features is a double GlideAlong ride, described by the manufacturer as part swing and part track ride. The structure has a platform at each end where a rider can either sit or stand on a disc connected by a pole to an overhead beam that is ridden from one end to the other. The base cost for the playground included one GlideAlong, but with the addition there will be two.
The second additional feature is a Mantis Glide, a 90-foot zipline.
“I think the coolest features, because we don’t really have anything around here like it, is the zipline and the glide,” Crutchley said. “I think kids are going to love those. It will give them the feeling of flying. There are a few around, but there are not many.”
Crutchley said the previous playground, which also was manufactured by Miracle, was in the park for 25 years.
He said not only will the new playground have new features, but also it will be made of better materials.
“The previous one lasted beyond its life expectancy in a flood plain,” he said. “(Playgrounds) have come a long way, and it is pretty cool. The material is different now. Before it was steel, and now it’s galvanized steel, so that stops the rusting and stuff.”
Needed
Crutchley said many people have told him how much they miss the playground since it was torn down.
“There are a lot of people talking about it and anxious about it,” he said. “I think that is why the council moved so quickly on this after. It is important to all of us to get it up.
“It has always been our responsibility as parks and rec to make sure everybody has safe, fun amenities within the parks department. I think we are holding up our end of the bargain.”
Richison said the playground is important to Arnold City Park, which is home to many city events, like the annual Fourth of July fireworks display and the three-day-long Arnold Days festival.
“It was used more than I realized,” he said. “Clearly, it is an amenity many people enjoyed, and they are missing it. I think they will be very happy with what we are going to put in there. I think they will enjoy it more and find it is better than what we had before.”
Crutchley said the city also is looking to replace the playground at Ferd B. Lang Park along Old Lemay Ferry Road. He said the playground there is about 25 years old, but it is still safe to use.
“We inspected that playground after closing the one in Arnold City Park,” he said. “Hopefully, in the next year or two we can get that one replaced too. It is a popular park for residents in that area.”