Gulf Shores, Ala. – (OBA) – In 2014, Gulf Shores did a study on its Kids Park playground in Sims Park and discovered its life expectancy was waning fast. The wooden structure was built with the guidance of playground company Leathers and Associates and a community effort in 1996.

Tentative plans call for the new $950,000 playground to be completed in November if approved by the city council at a regular council meeting on March 23. Director of Parks and Recreation Grant Brown made a presentation on replacing the park at the March 17 work session, and after years of diligent inspections, patches, and repairs as needed, city officials are ready to move forward with an effort to replace the aging playground with a shiny new facility.

“In 2018, we went through an envisioning process with our community and came up with some ideas for a replacement kids park,” Brown told the city council in a work session on March 16. “We did some work to the kids park to make sure it was safe and continued to be usable, but we’re now at a point where Kids Park is needing to be replaced. It is rotten to the point where we are going to start worrying about the safety of the park.”

The 2018 study first leaned toward a more gleaming plastic and metal, but city officials and members of the Parks and Recreation Advisory Board decided then the park design should mimic the original because of its appeal to more residents. 

“The Committee expressed a clear preference for a replacement that honored the character and charm of the original structure,” Brown said. “One of our committee members made a comment that if there’s a structure they would go into the park and actually play with their grandchildren. And if it was more of a plastic and metal playground, they would sit on the side and just watch their grandkids play. That really resonated with us.”

Gulf Shores will contract with the same company, Leathers and Associates, initially for $39,900 to work with the community – including Gulf Shores schoolchildren – to come up with a new design for the park during April and May public outreach. Construction is planned to start in September with plans for the new playground to be completed in November.