The city of DeWitt has 10 parks, three for every square mile. Some, like Riverside Park, Sports Park and McGuire Park have equipment that hasn't been updated in more than 20 years.
But, the city recently rolled out its 15-year Parks Improvement Plan, which will focus on seven parks, including those three.
"We've approved them to start sitting down with the catalogs and the designers and the engineers and looking at what exactly needs to be done in each of the top three parks and how much that's going to cost," DeWitt Mayor Sue Leeming said, adding that they would also like to "have some neighborhood meetings to make sure that we're going to be putting in stuff that the neighbors are looking for and we haven't missed anything."
Leeming said the plan so far includes everything "from parking lots to bathroom structures, to playground equipment."
"All of those things have to be replaced and it's going to be very expensive," Leeming said. "We have some pretty rough estimates, and they're, you know, big numbers when it comes to equipment. I was shocked."
Leeming said she thinks the whole project could cost up to $1 million.
Some improvements include adding an underground walkway to Riverside Park, adding a walking path and wheelchair accessible pathways to Sport Park, and adding pickleball courts to McGuire Park.
The city plans to apply for grants and over the past two years has set aside $250,000 for the project.
"We actually hope to start putting stuff in in the spring," Leeming said. "Now, that may be aggressive given all the supply chain issues and things."
Leeming said she expects to see a lot of change in the city's parks within the next two years.
Want to see more local news? Visit the FOX47News Website.
Stay in touch with us anytime, anywhere.
Sign up for newsletters emailed to your inbox.
Select from these options: Neighborhood News, Breaking News, Severe Weather, School Closings, Daily Headlines, and Daily Forecasts.
