Conway parks to offer more accessibility, safer surfaces
CONWAY — Two Conway city parks will have “bigger and better” playground equipment in early September, said Steve Ibbotson, director of Conway Parks and Recreation.
He said the equipment is due to arrive this week.
The old playgrounds at Gatlin and Laurel parks were torn down during the height of summer, causing complaints on social media, but Ibbotson said that wasn’t the original plan.
“It’s actually due to COVID,” he said. “When we ordered everything, it was supposed to be in by the early part of spring, but they couldn’t get people in the factories to get it out. It was, ‘So, this is when it’s coming,’ and ‘This is what we’re going to have to do to get it done.’”
Ibbotson said the equipment is from Hahn Enterprises, based in Louisiana, but he ordered it through a central-Arkansas representative.
Conway Mayor Bart Castleberry agreed that the pandemic affected the equipment schedule, and prices change “drastically.”
“You take contractors when you can get them, and you take them when the weather is good. Would I have preferred not to be working on this in the summer when kids are out of school? Yeah,” he said.
The city does not install the playground equipment because of the liability, Ibbotson said.
The Laurel Park playground, 2310 Robinson Ave., is adjacent to one of the city’s two splash pads, which has remained operational all summer.
Ibbotson said the Laurel Park equipment, which cost $318,229, will have more wheelchair-accessible equipment than the previous set.
“There’s a merry-go-round you can roll right up on and some swings that will accommodate handicapped kids,” he said. “It’s going to be bigger, better, and it’s going to have shade over the top of it. It’s pretty much in the same footprint that it was.”
Ibbotson said that once the playground equipment arrives and is installed, “they’ve got to put artificial-turf surfacing down and touch up the sidewalk.”
He said the new playground surfaces at Laurel and Gatlin parks will be a mixture of artificial turf, like that at Fifth Avenue Park, and poured-in-place rubber, like the surface at Curtis Walker Park.
“We’re getting rid of all that wood-mulch stuff. [The new surface is] going to be cleaner, safer for kids,” he said.
The playground equipment at Gatlin Park, 2325 Tyler St., cost $235,189. It will have handicapped-accessible swings and a piece of equipment “at ground level” that will be accessible for wheelchairs. There will be no shade structure over the equipment.
“We’ve got some trees that look like they’re going to provide enough shade over there,” Ibbotson said.
Castleberry said it was time to upgrade the parks, and he believes residents will enjoy the new amenities for years to come.
“They’re going to be really nice,” he said.