New equipment and
pool will go to the southeast of park building
by Tesha M. Christensen
Although the parks department doesn’t yet know when the
playground will be replaced at Keewaydin Park, it does know where it will be
located.
After a community meeting in March, the decision was made to
position the playground and pool to the east of the park building, on land that
once housed tennis courts.
The playground equipment will be displaced by the expansion
of Keewaydin School. The groundbreaking on a $16 million addition that will
double the size of Keewaydin School will be held in June; work is expected to
be underway by the third week of June and continue for one year. At that time,
part of the existing playground will be off limits.
“The K-12 play structure and wading pool will be open for use
throughout and after construction,” noted Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board
Project Manager Deborah Bartels.
“The pre-K structure, the swings, and the Galaxy spinners will be
removed to facilitate construction.”
Since a design of the school expansion was first released to
the public in January, the school district has continued to modify the
footprint. “There has been a concentrated effort to compact the building so
there would be more play space to the southern end,” observed Doug Walters of
the Nokomis East Neighborhood Association who serves on the school construction
steering committee.
This not only lowers the construction cost of the school
building, but also may allow the pool to remain where it is until the parks
department is able to set aside funds for its replacement, he said.
In the first expansion design, the addition was located on
top of the existing playground and pool. It will no longer extend that far
south.
TWO CONCEPTS PRESENTED
At the March community park meeting, attendees evaluated two
concept plans. Concept one included one ball field, two soccer fields, two
tennis court, and a playground/pool area where on ball field is currently
located on the southwest side of the park property.
While this would position the playground close to the school,
some residents were concerned about policing as the area would be difficult to
see from the street, noted Bartels.
This would place the playground and pool near the school
loading dock and garbage area, as well as next to a large gymnasium wall
without windows, pointed out Walters. Additionally, the soil in this area is
peat, and in order to put a playground there better soil would need to be
hauled in, upping the cost of the project. In the past, this area was a swamp
and a dump. The school will need to drive pilings in 90 feet in order to
construct its addition in the area.
A representative from the Minnehaha Falls Athletic Club
(MFAC) told attendees that their biggest need is for ball fields for youth
games. “There are no other baseball diamonds in our area,” said Walters. “They
are all booked.” The diamonds at Bossen Field are heavily used by adult leagues
that pay rental for the fields.
With that knowledge, participants favored concept two, which
retains two under-12 ball fields and two soccer fields.
The other big difference between concept one and two was the
inclusion of tennis courts in concept one. However, given that there are new
courts at 15th Avenue and Minnehaha Parkway, as well as at Lake Hiawatha Park
and Lake Nokomis Park, the tennis courts were given a lower priority, according
to Walters.
The concept favored by attendees locates the playground and
pool in the southeast corner of the park land, in an area that has been open
space since the tennis courts were removed in 2007 because they were in poor
condition.
However, community members thought that the playground/pool
concept number two as presented was too “formal” and instead preferred the
“ambiguous” and “organic” design of concept one, stated Walters.
Bartels is currently working to revise concept two. It will
be presented to neighborhood residents at another community meeting; a date has
not yet been set for this meeting. “The full extent of the improvements that
will be presented in the plan will be determined at the next meeting,” stated
Bartels. “We know that a wading pool and playgrounds will be included in the
plan.”
The parks department hopes to present the revised plan for
Keewaydin Park to the Parks and Recreation Board in May for approval.
COST AND TIMING
After the final design has been approved, the parks
department will solicit cost estimates. Then it will begin looking for funding
sources. Because the school project was approved last November, the parks
department was not able to work these changes into its budget. A new wading
pool/splash pad will cost about $500,000, and a new playground about $300,000.
It could cost $200,000 to fix the drainage issues on the athletic fields. The
parks department has budgeted $500,000 total to split between the service area
of Morris, McRea, and Pearl in 2013.
Once funding is identified,
the parks department will determine when the equipment will be installed.
“There is a push to get the playground open by fall,” said Walters.
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Concept 1 – Central
playground with SE tennis courts
PROS
• Playgrounds located
closer to school for use by students.
• Parents can easily
observe three play containers from a single vantage point.
•Wading pool is near
rec center for bathrooms and supervision.
• Tennis courts fill
void in geographic distribution in SE metro.
• Tennis courts provide
recreational activity for a different age group.
CONS
• Loss of one
additional ball field.
• No buffer between
fields and playground – possible safety issues.
• Possible expensive
and extensive soil corrections required for pool and playgrounds.
• Policing: centrally
located playgrounds behind buildings are less visible from the street.
• Retaining walls
needed – athletic field grades are three feet lower than rec center.
Concept 2 – SE
playground with athletic field
PROS
• No fields lost – 2
ballfields and 2 soccer fields
• Policing: area is
very visible from the street
• Soils are good;
construction less expensive.
CONS
• Distance of
playground from school
• Distance between Pre-K
structure and K-12 structure will make parental observation more difficult.
• Wading pool distance from building;
supervision more difficult
• No tennis courts
• Close to street: fencing needed at perimeter of playground to meet current
playground safety standards.
This story printed in the April 2012 edition of the Longfellow/Nokomis Messenger.
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