Commission backs staff recommendation to relocate Peridot Path playground to south side

The Eagan Parks and Recreation Commission voted Feb. 23 to recommend relocating the Peridot Path Park playground from the park's north end to the park's south side, approving a staff recommendation intended to reduce construction costs and simplify accessibility upgrades.

Jared, a parks staff member presenting the playground proposals, told commissioners that Peridot Path Park is the city’s oldest playground, installed in 2001, and that the current north-side site has steep terrain and retaining walls that would make an ADA-compliant rebuild expensive and complex. “Peridot Path Park is currently our oldest playground in the system. It was originally installed in 2001,” Jared said during the presentation.

Staff proposed moving the play structure to a flatter parcel on the south side of the park, which would reduce earthmoving and trail work required to meet ADA standards. Jared said staff had collected public input on two vendor options; roughly 30 comments were submitted online for Peridot Path while Walnut Hill received about 100 comments. Staff said it is leaning toward vendor option 2 but is working with vendors to add favored features (for example, incorporating a playhouse element some commenters requested).

Commissioner Cori Vargas moved to approve the staff recommendation; another commissioner seconded the motion and the commission approved it by voice vote. The motion was presented as a recommendation to city council and does not itself finalize construction contracts or detailed design.

Budget context provided during the meeting noted that staff typically budgets about $50,000 for neighborhood playgrounds but increased the allocation to about $80,000 this year; staff also cited an additional $5,000 grant from Dakota County earmarked for an ADA-accessible swing. Jared warned that using rubber surfacing similar to Destination All Play would roughly double a playground’s cost (he used a staff example increasing a playground from about $80,000 to approximately $160,000), while fiber mulch meets ADA standards at lower cost and is the department’s usual surfacing choice.

Next steps: the commission’s recommendation will be forwarded to city council for consideration and the chosen designs will be refined with the vendor and parks staff. The commission did not record a roll-call vote; approval was by unanimous voice vote at the meeting.