(Seguin) – The city of Seguin has finally said goodbye to the old Kids Kingdom Playscape at Max Starcke Park. Following Monday’s demolition, the once wooden playscape on the park’s east side is now just a pile of debris.
Jack Jones, director of parks and recreation, says the city allowed for the aging fixture to stay in use almost seven years after the city in 2015 installed a new voter approved playscape right next door. He says the plan has always been to take down the playscape but deterioration, especially over the last year, has helped speed up that process.
“We had a gentleman on staff who wound up getting his certified playground safety inspector certification and we had him maybe a month ago start looking at it and he gave the recommendation as well – saying the hardware, wood rot, loose screws – everything you could imagine being a 28-year-old playground – it’s like we just can’t redo all of it. He gave the recommendation to me that it is time for it to go and we also have a risk manager on staff now that is a new position through the HR department – we had her look at it as well and followed up with a recommendation of ‘this is something that is not safe for the public to use any longer,’” said Jones.
In addition to the years of wear and tear, the Kids Kingdom did not meet today’s current accessibility and safety standards.
Following the playscape’s total dirt removal, the pea gravel surrounding the structure will also be removed and seeded for grass.
Although there are currently no plans for that space, Jones says there is always the potential for something new.
“You never know the future. We could look at grants and come back. Kind of a new craze out there that a lot of cities especially large cities (are doing) – they are building fitness courts. To me, that would be a really good area that the kids can be playing on the playground in the area where the old wooden playscape was,” said Jones.
Meanwhile, the park area surrounding the playscape including disc golf holes 1-4 and 18 will be closed through Friday during the working hours of 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. The park space will be closed so workers can safely remove and dispose of the 28 year-old playground equipment.