Fort Scott parks advisers urge quick fix for Nelson playground, prioritize Gun Park repairs and Wi‑Fi

Fort Scott parks advisers and staff recommended using available local funds to pay for new wheelchair‑accessible playground surfacing at Nelson Park and identified a short list of higher‑priority park projects at a work session Tuesday.

Advisers said a grant application intended to pay for the Nelson Park surfacing fell through and that the committee should recommend to the City Commission that roughly $36,000 from the parks fund be applied to the surfacing to address safety and accessibility concerns.

Committee members said that waiting months or longer for grant opportunities would leave the park with hazardous material and potential liability for the city. Members noted the playground is supposed to be handicap accessible but is currently not in compliance.

Beyond Nelson Park, the group prioritized near‑term projects that could be funded from a roughly $200,000 pool the commission has been discussing: refurbishment or replacement of Shelterhouse 3, disc‑golf basket purchases, speed bumps and road repairs in Gun Park, retaining‑wall repairs, and restroom improvements at Shelter 7/dog‑park area. The committee recorded prior estimates and commitments: about $40,000 previously identified for a Gun Park bathroom (later set aside), roughly $50,000 expected for Shelterhouse 3 bids, and roughly $110,000 already earmarked against the fund for various items, leaving other amounts to allocate.

Committee members and staff also discussed infrastructure that would support park safety and operations: installing Wi‑Fi across shelter houses to enable camera networks, online camping reservations and digital check‑in, and a mesh network or line‑of‑sight links to the city water tower. Staff said trimmed trees and sight lines needed for the wireless link are in place and that vendor New Wave could be engaged to plan a mesh network. Committee members said having cameras and reliable Wi‑Fi would make vandalism deterrence and event management easier, and could help disc‑golf tournament scoring and online registration.

Members reviewed potential phased approaches for big projects, including seeking matching grants for major Gun Park retaining‑wall and road work and using asphalt millings or other lower‑cost surfacing as interim measures. They also discussed working with the county to use county asphalt equipment to reduce costs, and using traffic counters to document park traffic volumes when seeking funding.

The committee emphasized phasing larger infrastructure so the parks fund would not be entirely consumed at once. Members suggested waiting a defined period for matching grants before committing local funds to major retaining‑wall repairs.

At the end of the session, the committee asked staff to present the Nelson Park playground recommendation and the Shelterhouse 3 bid to the City Commission for consideration, and to return with more detailed cost breakdowns and grant‑matching plans for Gun Park roads and retaining walls.