New playground equipment, scoreboards on the way to city parks
Published 6:00 am Sunday, January 12, 2025
Snow falls at Reservoir Hill Park on Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2025, after city commissioners recently approved new playground equipment at Reservoir Hill Park and Parker-Bennett Park. GRACE MCDOWELL / DAILY NEWS
Snow falls at Reservoir Hill Park on Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2025, after city commissioners recently approved new playground equipment at Reservoir Hill Park and Parker-Bennett Park. GRACE MCDOWELL / DAILY NEWS
Snow falls at Reservoir Hill Park on Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2025, after city commissioners recently approved new playground equipment at Reservoir Hill Park and Parker-Bennett Park. GRACE MCDOWELL / DAILY NEWS
Snow falls at the Parker-Bennett Recreation Center park on Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2025, after city commissioners recently approved new playground equipment at Reservoir Hill Park and Parker-Bennett Park. GRACE MCDOWELL / DAILY NEWS
Snow falls at the Parker-Bennett Recreation Center park on Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2025, after city commissioners recently approved new playground equipment at Reservoir Hill Park and Parker-Bennett Park. GRACE MCDOWELL / DAILY NEWS
Snow falls at the Parker-Bennett Recreation Center park on Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2025, after city commissioners recently approved new playground equipment at Reservoir Hill Park and Parker-Bennett Park. GRACE MCDOWELL / DAILY NEWS
New playground equipment is on the way to two city parks this year after Bowling Green city commissioners approved the purchases Tuesday night for Parker Bennett Park along with the park at Reservoir Hill.
“Replacing playgrounds has been something that the parks system and the City of Bowling Green have been dedicated to for quite a while,” City Parks Director Brent Belcher told the Daily News. “It’s not uncommon that we attempt to do something like this each budget year.”
He said the current equipment at Reservoir and Parker Bennett have been in place for “a number of years.” Inclusivity is a focus for the new equipment, with more ramps and easily-accessible features.
Belcher said the purchase, totaling over $700,000, will feature turf surfaces in lieu of mulch, in keeping with the inclusivity goals of the playgrounds.
“That alone will allow kids to have one less barrier because the mulch, while ADA (compliant), is not necessarily inclusive in all ways, and we want to make sure our playgrounds are,” he said.
He said standard playground mulch, while biodegradable, does not allow someone with disabilities to easily use the equipment.
It takes around nine to 12 weeks for playground equipment to be delivered to the city.
“In a perfect world, we would have the site ready for installation at Parker Bennett and (then) kind of move forward,” Belcher said. “With the Parker Bennet playground … we really want to get that one done by the summer.”
As for Reservoir Hill, the timeline is more dependent on Parker Bennett. However, Belcher said he “has no reason to believe” that both playgrounds couldn’t be finished before the summer.
“The first priority is Parker Bennett, then we’ll work our way to Reservoir Hill,” he said.
Bowling Green Parks and Recreation saw more attention as commissioners approved the purchase of six scoreboard replacements for two other parks.
“This was really needed,” City Manager Jeff Meisel told commissioners. “We’ve been putting these off.”
Four scoreboards will be installed at the baseball fields at Lampkin Park, with the remaining two going up at Hobson Grove Park. The $66,960.53 purchase covers installation costs as well, Meisel said.
Commissioners also recognized the Bowling Green High School Purples football team in Tuesday’s meeting, one month to the day after their 37-20 win over Cooper that gave Bowling Green its second consecutive state championship.
Members of the team were present along with the coaching staff. During the meeting, Bowling Green Mayor Todd Alcott congratulated the team on the win and encouraged the players to “enjoy this time.”
“This is a time of camaraderie,” Alcott said. “The community has watched you grow up … you will go out to do amazing things in this world.”
Commissioners also approved:
- The acceptance of $57,000 in grant finds from the Appalachian High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Program for overtime expenses;
- Construction and accepting maintenance of 1,365 linear feet of roadway, sidewalk and storm sewer in the Greystone Subdivision.
Commissioners will meet again on Jan. 21.
About Jack Dobbs
Jack covers city government for the Daily News. Originally from Simpson County, he attended Western Kentucky University and graduated in 2022 with a degree in journalism.
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