Two parks prepare for makeover

BIRMINGHAM — Thanks to the funds from a $11.25 million parks and recreation bond over 70% of voters approved in 2020, the city of Birmingham has been able to focus on improving some of the community’s playgrounds. The city is currently in the process of developing plans for the playgrounds at Pumphouse Park and West Lincoln Well Park.

“We’re gathering feedback from the residents on what they would like to see there, and then we hope to present at the next parks and recreation board meeting a design based on a lot of that feedback and then move forward from there,” Scott Zielinski, director of public services, said. “The city tries in every way to communicate with our residents. We recognize that there’s not one best-practice way to communicate with residents.”

Throughout this phase of the project, the city has sought out community feedback in meetings, online surveys and the Department of Public Services open house.

“We’re just making all these different pushes to make sure we’re getting the public input as to what they want to see in those neighborhood parks and make sure we’re basically leaving no stone unturned when it comes to ensuring the amenities that we provide our citizens or what they want,” Zielinski said.

Pumphouse Park and West Lincoln Well Park currently have playground equipment from the 1990s. These playgrounds are at the head of a series of playground improvements throughout the city over the course of four years.

Once these playgrounds are replaced, Poppleton Park will be next, followed by Pembroke Park. Other playgrounds that will eventually see improvements are Crestview, Kenning, Howarth, St. James and Linden parks.

 

Pumphouse Park
The city has a budget of $150,000 planned for the Pumphouse Park playground improvements.

Located adjacent to Birmingham County Club, Pumphouse Park is classified as a mini-park. It is a small park primarily used by the surrounding neighborhood.

 

West Lincoln Well Park
The bigger of the two, West Lincoln Well Park, is classified as a neighborhood park. A total of $200,000 is budgeted for the West Lincoln Well Park playground improvements.

Since it is more spacious, the  West Lincoln Well Park playground will be a little larger than the playground at Pumphouse Park, with more equipment.

 

Looking ahead
There is not a set timeline for this project, but  Laird said they hope to move quickly and have the purchase and installment completed this summer. Zielinski said there will be “distinctive age range play areas that will be available.”

He emphasized the importance of separating younger kids up to 5 years old from older kids.

“The city is really excited to be replacing some of this older equipment and servicing sections of the city that we haven’t had an opportunity to in recent years to provide them these nice upgrades.”