Spray water play areas planned

Three North Side parks are being recommended initially for new spray water play areas, but parks officials said Tuesday that more locations on the North Side are being sought depending on citizen input in coming months.

Friendship, Glass and Audubon parks are identified as potential spray area locations because each previously had wading pools, closed for safety and maintenance problems in recent years. Shadle Park has a newer spray area built two years ago.

The new spray features would be part of a $42.9 million park bond issue approved by voters in November. Parks officials Tuesday said they will move quickly to gather public input on bond spending so they can get designs done and construction started later next year.

Five parks on the South Side and at inner city neighborhoods also are on the list of likely locations for spray features. They are Underhill, Lincoln, Manito, Coeur d’Alene and Thornton-Murphy parks. Grandview Park earlier this year had a new spray area installed.

Parks Director Mike Stone said at a meeting Tuesday at the Northeast Community Center that additional locations are being sought for North Side spray areas to provide a geographical balance for those features across the city.

The newer-style of spray areas have no standing water and are considered safer. Plus, they are not subject to problems with contamination and vandalism that led to the wading pools’ demise.

Older spray features are found at Grant, Chief Garry, Harmon and Mission parks. The spray area at Chief Garry Park has been closed for the past two summers because its drains can be plugged to create standing water. Officials said they area considering work to reopen that spray area.

Consultants are being sought by the Parks Department to guide the public input and decisions that will go into development of new aquatics facilities as well as youth baseball fields and recreation and softball improvements at Albi Stadium. The city’s five existing swimming pools are slated for reconstruction either at their current sites, or on adjacent sites depending on what residents want, Stone said.

George Craig, chair of the West Central Neighborhood Council, said his neighborhood would like to see a wading pool at Cannon Park replaced with new spray or wading features. Stone said spray or wading features may be added to the larger outdoor pools.