Committee approves $40,000 Burke playground for Scenic Valley Park

At a Village of Cross Plains committee meeting, members approved accepting a Burke Manufacturing playground offered to the village for about $40,000 to be paid from the park’s playground-improvement fee fund. Staff told the committee Burke approached the village to showcase the structure and would install it quickly if the village board signs off: "Their plan is if the village board approves it on October 6, they will be here on the seventh to install it." (Speaker 3)

The playground equipment was described by staff (Speaker 3) as an item Burke is positioning for its 2026 catalog; staff said Burke’s standard equipment list would be included in the purchase and that Burke had offered the village the equipment for roughly $40,000. "They're giving us giving it to us for 40,000 to move forward with," staff said. Committee members heard the conceptual plan for Scenic Valley Park, including a playground, walking loop, benches and potential future amenities. Staff said the project currently has "roughly a 151,000 to kind of work with for the updating of this park," funds that come from playground-improvement fees collected for the development (Speaker 3).

Residents and committee members raised placement, age-appropriateness and feasibility questions. One resident who introduced himself during public comment identified himself as "Brian Cohen, 1771 Cornerstone Drive," then later the transcript shows the same speaker giving the name "Brian Owen"; the transcript contains this inconsistency. That resident, who said he is a landscape architect, supported using Burke equipment but asked for clearer illustrations and cautioned about equipment scale for toddlers. Another resident, Ben Spector ("I'm, Ben Spector at 1783 Cornerstone Drive"), asked whether all lots and grading issues had been reviewed and whether features such as soccer fields were feasible on the parcels shown.

Staff said the conceptual plans were prepared with Parkitecture, Planning LLC and that civil-engineering review (for grading and feasibility) would occur in a subsequent phase: "This is not... looked at by their civil engineer yet. That would happen in our next phase" (Speaker 3). Staff also explained a timing constraint tied to fee collection: under current village practice staff said they collect playground-improvement fees only when a construction permit is taken out, which affects cash availability for larger items. "The way that the village ordinance is set up, we only collect the money once the construction permit is taken out," staff said.

The committee took three formal actions: it approved minutes from the July 21, 2025 meeting; it passed a motion to remove a prior playground-structure item "as written in the agenda" (the committee voted to remove that item from the agenda as presented); and it approved a motion to accept the Burke playground for Scenic Valley Park at an equipment cost of $40,000 to be funded from the playground improvement fee account. The committee recorded the motions as carried on voice votes; specific individual vote tallies were not provided in the transcript.

Staff said procurement will be completed through Sourcewell (a cooperative purchasing entity) to provide third-party oversight: "I requested that they do this through Sourcewell... just because this is a different type of deal... I don't wanna see that the village gets into any litigation with anybody" (Speaker 3). Staff also outlined a phased approach: install the playground now with remaining funds and return to the committee and village board to seek capital-improvement funding for higher-cost items such as shelter and full walking-path construction.

The next procedural steps described in the meeting were preparation of CAD drawings and packet materials for the village board, anticipated discussion at the October 6 village board meeting, and potential installation by Burke on October 7 if the village board approves. The committee adjourned after the approvals.

Sources and attributions in this report are drawn from the committee transcript and public comments recorded during the meeting and are attributed to the speakers as recorded in the transcript.