Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Parks And Recreation topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Wyandotte County parks get $3–4 million in ARPA upgrades, agency official says
Summary
An agency official said roughly $3–4 million in American Rescue Plan Act funds paid for community-center HVAC and safety upgrades, about $1 million for two ADA walking trails, and about $500,000 to rebuild the Heathwood Spray Park in Wyandotte County.
An agency official said Wyandotte County has used roughly $3 million to $4 million in American Rescue Plan Act funds to upgrade community centers, add ADA-accessible walking trails and rebuild the Heathwood Spray Park, projects the official said will improve air quality, safety and recreational access for residents.
The official said the first project was "about a $1.1 million investment to five facilities," focused on indoor air quality and ventilation upgrades, including HVAC and window replacements to make community-center spaces healthier and safer. "Being able to upgrade our HVAC systems and windows ... created healthier public spaces," the official said.
The speaker said parks and recreation also received roughly $1 million for two new paved walking trails—one at Wyandotte County Park and one at Pierson Park—adding about one mile of new, ADA-accessible trail. The official described the trails as filling a gap in safe paved walking space and said they will serve residents for generations.
The official noted the pandemic underscored demand for outdoor recreational space, saying parks were among the few places that allowed safe social distancing and that the new trails support mental and physical health needs.
About a $500,000 ARPA investment rebuilt the Heathwood Spray Park, the official said, replacing a 20-plus-year-old facility that had reached the end of its useful life. "That spray park ... is totally rebuilt and highly utilized," the official said, adding that spray-park areas provided earlier public access than pools during pandemic reopenings.
The official concluded that parks and recreation received three to four million dollars in ARPA capital investment—far more than typical annual or multi-year capital allotments—allowing the department to complete projects that otherwise would have taken years to implement. No formal vote or policy action was recorded in the presentation; the speaker described completed or ongoing capital projects funded with ARPA dollars.
