Michigan City board approves 50% construction drawings for Fetters Alley inclusive playground

The Michigan City Parks and Recreation Board on April 2 voted to approve 50% construction documents for an inclusive playground at Fetters Alley in Washington Park after a presentation by the project design team.

Designers said the playground will be an inclusive, multigenerational destination featuring accessible walking trails, fitness stations, a new shelter with accessible restrooms and a family changing room, play elements such as a fish structure, zip line, swings and spinners, and sculptural elements intended to fit the dune landscape.

Joel Baldwin, principal with Hitchcock Design Group, and Austin Blomecki, a landscape architect for Jones Petri Ravinski (JPR), described the current package as a roughly half-complete set of construction documents that includes landscape, architecture, utility, electrical and grading sheets. Baldwin said the team has reduced the playground footprint and scaled back some site features to address budget constraints while retaining the core design. “We’re about 50%,” Baldwin said of the construction documents and described remaining coordination tasks.

Blomecki reviewed site grading and utilities: the plan keeps an existing low point/retention basin in the park, proposes a sanitary connection at a nearby manhole with a water tap from the northwest corner, and would run electrical service from an existing panel at the southeast corner of the site to the new restroom building. He also described minor storm pipe reconfiguration near Lake Shore Drive and selective erosion control and topsoil stockpiling locations because of the site slope.

The restroom design was described as reduced in size from earlier concepts to stay within budget. Blomecki noted a plumbing chase down the middle of the building to serve fixtures and mechanical systems and confirmed the family restroom will include an adult changing station. The team said materials were revised from an initially proposed stone façade to fiber cement siding due to cost, and that the contractor would be responsible for establishing plantings; the team is still deciding between sod and hydroseed for disturbed areas.

Board members and the design team discussed several scope changes and site details. The presenters said the footprint shrank roughly 15% and that the team trimmed one stall from both the women’s and men’s restrooms and removed certain decorative elements (a cupola and a painted concrete climbing sculpture) to lower cost. The presenters confirmed the existing playground at the east end of the park, installed in 1970 and not ADA-accessible, will be removed and replaced by the project.

Security and site maintenance were addressed. The plan shows two to three security cameras (one at the restroom and one at the shelter) and the presenters said the city’s IT–school district fiber pilot might allow additional wireless cameras with minimal ongoing costs. Landscaping will use native dune plants to minimize irrigation after establishment; the team said initial watering/establishment will be required. The team noted they are targeting completion of the construction documents in May, followed by bidding and construction phases driven by final funding and schedule.

After questions from board members about cost-cutting steps, landscaping, cameras and reuse of existing play equipment, a board member moved to approve the 50% construction drawings “as presented tonight.” Another board member seconded the motion. The board approved the motion by voice vote.

The board directed staff to return with final documents in May and to proceed to the bidding phase contingent on final funding and scheduling decisions.

The approval does not authorize construction contracts; it approves the 50% construction documents and advances the project to completion of construction documents and then to bidding and negotiation stages.