New playground breaking ground in April

NORWALK — McGuan Park should be completely renovated by June. Parks and recreation superintendent Joe Lindenberger said they plan to break ground in April and finish in June. The McGuan Park revitalization project started last year and planned to upgrade the playground in the park with a handful of all-ability playground equipment and build a full basketball court. As more residents came forward to offer their ideas, the city decided to renovate the entire playground to be all-accessible and renovate the bathrooms. Lindenberger said the project is the biggest the department has had in years and will make Norwalk a destination. "Kids with different abilities are sitting watching other kids play, or they are loading up their families and driving to a couple of other communities to have one or two pieces," he said. "That's not going to happen, they're going to play here. We're trying to be very detail-oriented and make sure we hit this out of the park." The all-abilities playground will have ramp access and multiple wheelchair features, adaptive swings, zip lines and an all-abilities seesaw. The playground is planned to be fenced in with a sidewalk lining the perimeter and a floor of bonded rubber mulch. Lindenberger said the rubber mulch is expensive but is entirely necessary for all-abilities, as it makes traveling with a wheelchair much easier. A new addition to the park Lindenberger is planning is a pump track. While the funding for the $45,000 to $50,000 track isn't secured yet, it's a part of the vision for McGuan. A pump track is a circuit of rollers, banked turns and is designed to be ridden by generating momentum by up and down body movements, instead of pedaling or pushing. He said they hope to have a smaller version of the pump track near the all-abilities playground and a larger track close by. He said the larger track will be for older children with skateboards, bikes and scooters. "It's definitely an inclusive piece, adding all ages, all abilities," Lindenberger said. "I think it's an important component of tying all this together." Lindenberger has met with those who designed the pump track for Sandusky and he is working on a design for McGuan. Private donations, community efforts and businesses have helped provide funding for the project. Fisher-Titus Medical Center has contributed, and Lindenberger said the pediatric therapy team is "looking forward to utilizing the park." The Huron County Board of Developmental Disabilities has also contributed to the project, providing funding to renovate the bathrooms at the park. General services have already gutted the bathrooms and the new design will feature two unisex bathrooms. One bathroom will have a child-sized changing table and the second will have an adult-sized table. "There'll be touchless toilets, faucets, all wheelchair accessible," Lindenberger said. Funds are still needed for fences, benches, the pump track, security cameras, landscaping and a water fountain. "This is definitely a community project. We've had some great contributions, but we're not done yet," Lindenberger said. "We're hoping that other people in the community step forward, whether it's individuals or businesses." Anyone who is interested in contributing to the project, or has suggestions, can contact Lindenberger by email or phone at the Ernsthausen Recreation Center. He said he will even visit people at home. "Nothing is too small, every dollar counts. Many hands make for light work," he said. "Email, phone call, stop it, ask me to come over, I'll come to see them. I want people to feel like their ideas are welcome." Lindenberger said as important as it is for the city to take care of their citizens with police and fire, giving back to the community with the playground is just as needed. "Everybody and anybody can utilize this park and it's free," Lindenberger said. "The success of this project is vital to showing the community that we're serious about this, as we continue to make Norwalk a place for all kids."