NICK GOSNELL
Hutch Post
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — City of Hutchinson Parks and Facilities Director Justin Combs said playgrounds in Grandview and Herman Bunte parks will see some new equipment soon.
"It's scheduled to be delivered in December," Combs said. "We're hoping for either late December or early January installation on those. When I started about 10 years ago, our playgrounds were really not in great shape, they hadn't really been invested in since the mid to late 1990s."
The goal was to get them all rehabilitated and on a regular schedule.
"We really started targeting playgrounds, trying to do one every other year through our general capital improvement project, then trying to be real creative on those off years," Combs said. "We've had several grants and other opportunities to replace playgrounds. Since I started, we've replaced eight playgrounds. That doesn't include the two for this year, that will make 10 and the one at Rice Park makes 11. It's been a little bit of a challenge to get them all up to date, but we've really been working hard to get them done."
The new equipment should have a longer life than what is being replaced, as well.
"In the older stuff, the stuff that we have now, 20 to 25 years is kind of the life expectancy of those," Combs said. "The ones we're putting in now, we have a 50 year warranty on the structural components and then 10 years on the plastic components. We should realistically get 30 plus years out of the ones we're installing now."
The new playgrounds will be fully ADA compliant.
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