The city may be eyeing a new location at Maple Street Park for the city’s long-awaited splash park. Previously penciled in for an area in the north corner of the park, City Administrator Rick Robinson said officials are now entertaining the idea of removing the old, cracked tennis courts and placing the splash pad there.
Given the poor state of the playing surface, the Maple Street tennis courts are really not usable anyway, at least not without risking serious injury, so Robinson said this is really a win-win: the city removes a potential hazard that nobody can use, and replaces it with something awesome everybody can use, you know, at least three or four months out of the year.
He said he has already begun discussions with the city’s public works department to demolish and remove the old tennis courts.
This would not necessarily be the end of tennis in Maple Street Park, though. Robinson says there would be plans to build new courts there in a couple of years, perhaps with the use of parks system development charge (SDC) funds.
A splash pad has been one of the most requested new features by city residents and park users for years. The project was finally given the green light late last year, and Maple Street — the city’s largest park — was selected by the City Council after considering several other locations in town.
Details like the size, cost and design of the highly anticipated water feature have not yet been made public, presumably awaiting the final decision as to location. The park is expected to come online in the summer of 2020.