Lincoln City Parks & Recreation (LCP&R) is excited to announce a public open house for the new Sandcastle Playground to be built in Regatta Park. This launches the development planning (and conceptual design!) of a new ADA compliant playground in Regatta Park. This Open House will be held on Sat, May 25th, 10am-12pm, at the current Sandcastle Playground location in Regatta Park, 2700 NE 14th St in Lincoln City.
In 1992, the current Sandcastle Playground was built with community assistance and volunteers, quickly becoming the most popular park attraction within Lincoln City, and is still extremely popular today, after 34 years. Park patrons love the whimsical sandcastle design, which is nestled next to a preserved open space, overlooking Devils Lake.
In 2016, an ADA play area next to the Sandcastle was built. This play area utilizes an ADA-compliant rubber play surface, including rubber mulch from recycled tires and synthetic turf.
The new Sandcastle Playground is also planned to have an ADA rubberized and synthetic surface, which will make both play areas ADA-accessible. In preparation for further Sandcastle repair, LCP&R contracted an assessment of the playground, which found that while this attraction has been very well cared for, this much-loved playground has now served its time well and must be replaced after 32 years of use. The original materials used in the playground were pressure treated wood, which were found to be 10+ years beyond its intended life span. With continued drainage and material issues, and needs for improved ADA access,
LCP&R is focusing on replacing this playground as a whole with a new one, pending important public input. Jeanne Sprague, LCP&R Director, comments on the upcoming open house: “Everyone loves the Sandcastle Playground, especially its design. It was built by our community volunteers in 1992, and generations of families have played there. As we move forward with the Sandcastle replacement project, we want the public to meet our playground design team, we want to hear what they love about the existing Sandcastle Playground and what types of play elements they would like to see in the new playground, and which overall theme they prefer.”
Community engagement is a vital part of the design process for the new Sandcastle Playground. At this Open House, the design-build team, led by K&E Excavating, DOWL, and Understory Landscape Architecture, along with Parks & Recreation staff and Advisory Board, will be gathering feedback from the public. There will also be an option for an online survey for public not able to attend the Open House.
LCP&R is planning for the new Sandcastle playground construction to occur in 2025. Sprague says, “Our focus right now is public input on their beloved Sandcastle playground. Once we hear what our community wants, we’ll then move forward with final design and construction. We invite all to be involved with the design!” For continued updates on the Sandcastle Playground development in Lincoln City, see: https://www.lincolncity.org/departments/parks-recreation.
