New $283K playground and splash pad coming to park in historic Columbia neighborhood (2024)

Melrose Park will soon receive a more than a makeover, with a new playground and splash pad coming to the neighborhood park this fall.

Columbia City Council approved the project during its Aug. 6 meeting. It will include multiple new play structures for younger and older kids, a swing set with toddler and accessible seats, and a splash pad.

Todd Martin, a Columbia city landscape architect and park planner, said the new equipment is part of an ongoing partnership with the Melrose Heights community to update the park, which has become a spot for neighbors to "meet and gather and socialize and play."

Joshua Shelton, the president of the Historic Melrose Heights Neighborhood Association, said the current playground has a few issues that residents have been advocating to improve. Much of the play equipment is old and rusted, and lacks shade. The splash pad is also dated and requires a staff member to turn it on and off, which means it is sometimes forgotten and unusable — or results in wasted water, Shelton said.

Shelton said the community has worked with the city to update the park since he moved to the neighborhood in 2016. While the process has been slow, he said communication with city staff has been consistent and helpful.

City staff attended Melrose Heights meetings regularly and worked with community leaders to create a master plan for the park that addressed many of their concerns, Martin said.

The project will fix some of the residents' concerns with the park, such as aging equipment, lack of shade and the inefficient splash pad, Martin said. But it will also incorporate a more modern type of play.

Old playgrounds are very directional and obvious "because you go up a set of steps, over a bridge and down the slide," Martin said.

The new playground will give children more choices and room to play.

"We try to also introduce new components, such as climbing play, components that give children many more options to play on it, create creativity, using their imagination to play on it in a number of different ways," Martin said. "We find that to be much better solution."

The new park will include climbing blocks surrounding what would typically be a simple slide, a chair that operates like a zip line and a small climbing tent that smaller children can hide under.

"Families and children just flock to them," Martin said.

Cost and next steps

The updated playground equipment is just phase one of the Melrose Park project, and Martin said that it is mostly because of budget restraints.

Martin said the city finds funding in several different ways, including grants or capital improvement requests. These methods often require some flexibility with timing. Having a master plan is helpful for being prepared to propose a second phase of the project as soon as money is available, he said.

"We had enough funding to build the playground and splash pad. We're also implementing a walkway that would connect these elements along with some green space in the park," Martin said. "But the master plan that we developed included more components that once we have funding available, we'll work to implement those too."

The first phase of improvements totaled $238,878 and was funded through the city's general fund.

This cost is higher than what most playground companies quote on their websites, which typically range from $150,000 to $200,000 for higher-quality play sets. But Martin said construction industry costs are higher in general, and the price is comparable to other parks built by the city. He said it is also unique that the cost includes both a new playground and splash pad, as the equipment is usually done separately.

Shelton said he thinks the park improvements are worth the cost.

"I think the community has been advocating for a park for a really long time, and we're excited to get it," Shelton said. "It'll be value added to the neighborhood, to the kind of next generation of neighbors that have a place to play on that's both kind of fun with, like modern equipment and design, and also a nice, safe place to play as well."

Martin said because the second phase is early in the process, he is unsure of the expected cost, but the project is far along in the planning process. It will include improving the basketball court to be more multi-use, expanding the walking path, adding shade over the playground equipment, updating the neighborhood center building, and improving landscaping and site amenities.

Melrose Heights community members will get to vote on the playground's colors in the coming weeks, and Martin said he expects the project to be completed in about two months. The neighborhood center, basketball courts and community garden are expected to stay open during construction.

Shelton said he is looking forward to the park becoming an even better gathering spot for the diverse community — from young children and their parents to pet owners.

"To me, you know, a focus on parks is saying we're investing in our people," Shelton said. "We're investing in our citizens and their needs. So I think it's a great thing to spend money on parks."