Sean C Morgan
Big changes continue at Sankey Park as part of the city’s effort to “take back” the facility.
The city ordered a new set of restrooms last week and closed off the gravel parking lot to the south of Weddle Bridge.
City officials plan to expand the paved parking area at the main entrance to the park, said Public Works Director Greg Springman. “People will come to the outside (edge) of the park and walk in.”
An arrangement in which visitors drive into the middle of a park is unusual, Springman said, something seen more often at county parks.
The project had been on the list for Sankey Park, Springman said, but the city moved it up a couple weeks ago after someone used the gravel parking lot to do doughnuts.
A large portion of the old parking lot has been seeded with grass, watered and covered to help keep the rain from washing the seeds away this week, Springman said.
The area in front of Weddle Bridge remains graveled at this point, but boulders block access.
The city will replace the gravel, along with the oil mat leading up to the bridge, with paver blocks, said Joe Graybill, city staff engineer. Around the plaza, “we’ll do a series of benches looking at the park.”
The old caretakers driveway will be used to install the new restrooms roughly on the west edge of the old gravel parking lot, Graybill said. After that, the city will expand the driveway for additional parking.
Around the park, the city has put out more seed and irrigated to thicken the lawn, including the area under the trees, Springman said.
Public Works also has removed vegetation and weeds growing around the Girl Scout Hut.
“It was pretty thick back here,” Graybill said.
As the city continues work at Sankey Park, Graybill said he is seeking any information anyone has about the cannon in the park. He would like to install an informational plaque about it.
The new restrooms will be installed in the next couple of months. Timing on parking lot expansions is still unsettled, but Graybill hopes to have it done in the spring.
Public Works crews have been busy at Ashbrook Park as well this summer, Springman said. The park has all new irrigation and new concrete pads.
Broken playground equipment has been replaced. Crews have trimmed all the bushes and raised the tree canopy level, he said.
Posts have been stained, grass thatched and new bark spread throughout the park.
The city sees the beautification efforts as a tool to draw in the community and help in “taking back our parks,” Springman said.
The crews will move from Ashbrook to Northside Park next, he said.