Walker Park playground project decades in the making
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The Elkhart Parks & Recreation Department is in the midst of preparations for a project that Superintendent Jamison Czarnecki says the city can’t wait any longer to complete.
The department is set to completely overhaul the playground at Walker Park, which has stood for more than 25 years and now sits in a state of disrepair.
“I think we’ve all wanted to see Walker Park become something special, not just a regular, traditional playground that you might see anywhere,” Czarnecki said. “We wanted to think about it in a strategic way to say, ‘What is this community need, and how can we make sure to answer that call wisely?'”
Czarnecki told Inside INdiana Business that community feedback has been key to the process.
“We put out that preliminary online survey, and we received over 200 responses from that. And then our two public engagement meetings that we hosted each had about 30 to 40 people,” he said. “It tells us that there’s a lot of people who have thoughts and hopes and dreams about Walker Park, and we want to try and to get it right as best as we can for the most people.”
The original playground was installed in the late 1990s but has never been renewed or updated, which Czarnecki said has made it a bit of a liability.
“People really love the park, but we have heard constantly over the last few years that they’d like to see updates at the playground,” he said. “And now that it’s in disrepair to the point that we can’t wait any longer; we have to shut it down.”
The primary feedback from residents was a need for a combination of a risk play” orientation that includes more aspects of climbing and other features that kids of some abilities may not be able to participate in, as well as a more inclusive, sensory-oriented playground.
“We want to make sure to be cognizant of both demographics of people for what they want [the playground] to be,” Czarnecki said. “How do we allow for demographics of all types and all abilities to participate and play? And so blending risk play with inclusive play will take a bit of work.”
Czarnecki said the current quote for the project is approximately $450,000. A large portion of the funding is expected to come from the city’s general fund, but parks officials plan to apply for grants to support the project.
The project team is now in the process of evaluating the public feedback and identifying any external funding that would be needed before committing to a final design. Once that is in place, Czarnecki said it would be a 4-6 month process to get the equipment before installation could begin hopefully by late summer.
But the playground isn’t the only aspect of Walker Park that will see upgrades. Czarnecki said multiple ideas have been proposed, including regrading the middle portion of the park to create a flatter surface that could be used as a multipurpose field for sports.
Additionally, officials aim to honor the wishes of the Walker family when the land was donated to the city by keeping a natural feel to the park.
“We’re planning on some additional upgrades in the future to where we’re putting in a wildflower prairie, more trees, more bushes, and just enhancing sort of the natural look to it, so that it can be more sensitive to the local native fauna and flora,” Czarnecki said.
Future plans also call for fitness equipment to be added to the park.