Note: This story is part one of a four-part series on park playgrounds.

The Homewood-Flossmoor Park District last month spruced up three playgrounds with new equipment.

The $307,743 investment helped the park district update playgrounds that have been in place since the 1990s, said Executive Director Doug Boehm. The purchase from NuToys was budgeted over two years. 

Playground equipment is expected to last 15 to 20 years, Boehm said, but good maintenance practices have made it possible to keep playground equipment in place for up to 30 years in some parks.

In May, the staff conducted an open house for residents to offer input on which of two options they’d prefer for each park. The new playgrounds are at: 

• Scandia Park, a one-acre playground park at Hickory and Rockwell Avenues in Homewood. Updates include a fun spinner, a boogie board, curved slides and multiple climbers.
• Goldberg Park, 3301 Flossmoor Road in Flossmoor. The main structure in the playground equipment there looked like a castle. The park now has a 34-foot zip line, a treehouse structure and a fire truck play structure for preschool aged children.
• Pheasant Trails Park, a six-acre park with a playground, basketball hoop and tennis courts at Hanover Lane and Dixie Highway in Flossmoor. The new playground equipment has a fast double swoosh slide and a cool portal climber between two decks.

Before purchasing the equipment, several park board members asked if a new castle could be included at Goldberg, but Patrick McAneney, superintendent of parks and planning, said even if he could find a replacement castle the cost would be prohibitive.  

The park district has done its best to maintain that playground. McAneney said at Goldberg Park the district has spent between $3,000 and $3,500 to replace some platforms. He said the rubber dries out and staff has tried to cut the rubber off and recoat the platform, but it’s a potential safety issue.

The park district faced a similar issue at Leavitt Park where an investment of between $1,500 and $2,000 was necessary for a new platform.

“It’s hard to keep maintaining this old equipment compared to what it is to replace the whole piece,” McAneney said. 

The park district primarily uses a date of installation list to determine when parks get full updates.

The next major playground update will be at Irwin Park with an Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) accessible playground. The park district had a ADA ramp built off of Gottschalk Avenue down to the playground area 

The Illinois Department of Natural Resources had awarded the park district a $600,000 Open Space Lands Acquisition and Development (OSLAD) matching grant for improvements at Irwin Park.

The park board hired Upland Design Ltd., a firm that designs outdoor spaces, to give suggestions on how best to update the playground area near the west edge of the park on Ridge Road between Gottschalk and Highland Avenues in Homewood. The firm helped the park district with the OSLAD application.

Related stories:

• Safe to play: Ramp is 1st step in Irwin Park improvements (Sept. 9).
• Safe to play: 20th century playground fun gets new look for 21st century safety (Sept. 5).
• Safe to play: Gacsko plays key role in H-F playground safety (Sept. 5).