Splash Pad at Family Nights at Cascade Falls in Jackson, Michigan, on Wednesday, August 2, 2023. Christina Merrill | MLive.comChristina Merrill | MLive.com
ANN ARBOR, MI — Plans for a splash pad at Ann Arbor’s newly named Bicentennial Park are moving forward as the city celebrates its 200th anniversary. outdoor play equipment
City Council voted 9-0 Monday night, Jan. 22, to approve spending roughly $758,000 to purchase the splash pad and playground equipment for the park formerly known as Southeast Area Park off Ellsworth Road next to Interstate 94.
The city is still raising funds for various improvements to the park and anticipates $1 million in state funding that will reimburse the city for equipment, but for now the city is putting over $833,000 from its general fund toward the effort, counting a roughly $76,000 contingency fund for the project.
The project fundraiser page includes an image of what the splash pad could look like, as well as dollar amounts for other features the city is still raising funds to make happen.
In addition to the splash pad, other planned improvements to the park include replacing the existing playground, swings, accessible safety surfacing and renovations to an existing pavilion and restrooms, officials said.
Splash Pad at Family Nights at Cascade Falls in Jackson, Michigan, on Wednesday, August 2, 2023. Christina Merrill | MLive.comChristina Merrill | MLive.com
Adam Fercho, a city landscape architect and park planner, told council the purchase approved Monday night through Penchura LLC includes the following components:
Council Member Linh Song, D-2nd Ward, said she’s excited about creating the city’s first splash pad. She noted there were talks several years ago about creating one on the Library Lane parking lot next to the downtown library as part of a high-rise development with a new plaza there.
Voters decided in 2018 to designate the site as a future downtown park, which the city has not moved forward with creating.
“We are six years from that conversation,” Song said. “That’s basically if your child was a kindergartner, they are now middle schoolers experiencing the city’s first splash pad, or they might have been going to Plymouth Township, where there is a splash pad since 2003, so I’m glad that Ann Arbor is catching up.”
For the last several years, the city also has had plans for a spray park at Fuller Park. The city’s capital improvement plan now lists it as a possible $800,000 project for fiscal year 2026-27 or 2027-28 if officials decide to fund it.
The splash pad at Bicentennial Park will be fully accessible to people with disabilities, which is amazing, said Council Member Ayesha Ghazi Edwin, D-3rd Ward.
“And we still are fundraising another $900,000 and that will be used to redo pathways, bathrooms, the pavilion and other amenities so that they, too, are fully accessible, so that’s a huge win for our city,” she said.
City Council Member Ayesha Ghazi Edwin, D-3rd Ward, speaks about plans for improvements to Bicentennial Park, formerly Southeast Area Park, at Ann Arbor's bicentennial kickoff celebration at the Michigan Theater on Jan. 19, 2024. (Ryan Stanton | MLive.com)Ryan Stanton | The Ann Arbor News
Ghazi Edwin asked her colleagues last year to make Southeast Area Park the city’s Bicentennial Park instead of Fuller Park, noting the area’s socioeconomic diversity. She also has noted its proximity to Ypsilanti and Pittsfield Township, saying a splash pad and other improvements there will benefit the region.
She’s encouraging community members to visit the project fundraising page, which lists the following priorities:
As for when the splash pad will be ready to use, Parks Manager Josh Landefeld said a construction contract still needs to go to council for approval and the goal is to have construction start this summer and finish by end of summer. If all goes well, the equipment will take roughly four months to manufacture and ship and construction will take six to eight weeks, he said.
“It is important to note that fundraising is still a key component to getting this project started and completed,” he said. “Funding from the state has allowed us to get to this point, but there still is over $900,000 needed for the splash pad to open.”
Those funds are necessary for the bathroom updates for state permitting, and playground and pavilion improvements to support splash pad operations and prevent mechanical issues in the splash pad, Landefeld said.
The city also is raising funds for two other bicentennial legacy projects, including a renovation of the Elks Lodge on Sunset Road and a statute in front of city hall honoring former City Council Member Kathy Kozachenko, the nation’s first openly gay person elected to public office.
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