A Shawnee park will be swapping out more than 30-year-old equipment for a new, fresh look in spring 2027.
On Monday, Shawnee City Council voted 6-0 to approve a contract with the Missouri-based Next Generation Recreation LLC to replace playground equipment and safety surfacing at West Flanders Park. Councilmembers Kurt Knappen and Erin Aldridge were absent.
Installed in 1996, the existing playground equipment has reached the end of its service life and if it continues to be used, could fail and require the park to be closed with little notice to the public, Shawnee city documents stated.
“There’s a lot of concerns with the current playground,” Tonya Lecuru, Shawnee’s parks and recreation director, said during the city council meeting.
The new playground equipment would continue the playground’s medieval theme that honors the park’s sister city connection with Pittem, Belgium.
It will contain inclusive equipment including seven accessible elevated activities and 15 accessible ground-level activities, such as:
- Castle towers
- Interactive panels
- A scavenger hunt
- Climbers
- Slides
- Covered play spaces
- A climbable dragon
The city council had no feedback on the contract before voting to approve it.
The playground comes as a result of resident feedback
In order to figure out what people wanted from the playground, the City of Shawnee conducted surveys throughout the summer to gauge what people liked about it.
The overwhelming response was people wanted new equipment, but didn’t want to sacrifice natural features like trees and shade, Lecuru said.
“One of the things we heard multiple times and was definitely part of our consideration moving forward was that the trees will not be impacted by this,” she said.
She added: “We’ll be using the same footprint for the playground and the trees, which is one of the the unique, beautiful things about West Flanders Park is that there are nice trees that provide shade on that playground, and the existing swings will remain.”
Another goal of the park is to have equipment that continues to engage children’s imaginations.
“It’s very interactive (and has) imaginative play as well. (That) was an important part of that,” Lecuru said.
The project will begin in March 2027
The project will include:
- Removal of the existing play structure and surfacing
- Installation of the new play structure, dragon and castle facade
- Playground drainage improvements
- Installation of accessible, unitary bonded rubber safety surfacing
Construction is expected to begin in March 2027 and take eight weeks. The park will remain open while the project is underway, according to Shawnee city documents.
The contract is estimated at about $866,565. Funding for it was included in the 2027 Capital Improvement Program, with about half of it covered by the Parks and Pipes sales tax fund and the other half by fiscal year 2025 General Fund unencumbered fund.
While it is slated for a 2027 installation, city staff wanted to approve the contract by the end of the year so the equipment could be ordered now, Lecuru said.
Other renderings of the park:
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