Wright City residents are likely to have noticed a major change to the landscape at Diekroeger Park over the last week. A construction crew has completely removed the playground and begun initial …
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Wright City residents are likely to have noticed a major change to the landscape at Diekroeger Park over the last week. A construction crew has completely removed the playground and begun initial work to install a new play area at the park, which is located on Veterans Memorial Parkway.
Construction firm Byrne & Jones was hired by the city in early May to provide all labor and engineering for the playground replacement project. Groundwork at the site will be done to improve water drainage, followed by installation of a larger, handicap-accessible playground set that was donated to the city last year. Play area surfacing will also be installed around the playground.
The entire project is estimated to take about eight weeks, depending on how much rain delays the work.
Board of Alderman President Ramiz Hakim said through his Facebook page that the company has been given a fairly wide window to actually complete the work, but that the city has set a deadline of Sept. 16 for the playground to be completed. That will have the play area in place at least three weeks before the annual Strassenbash Festival in October, a commitment that the city government made for the playground project.
While construction is ongoing, city officials said that anyone who had previously reserved the Diekroeger Park pavilion for an event will be contacted and asked if they would like to change their reservation or move it to Ruge Park.
The city government agreed in April to pay a fee of $230,000 for the construction work at the playground. On May 12, a representative of Byrne & Jones said the company is also pitching in a handicap ramp system for the playground, valued at $22,600, at no cost to the city. Aldermen then voted to pay the firm an additional $19,000 to have Byrne & Jones pave the entire Diekroeger Park walkway, which is currently gravel.
While discussing the project, city officials did note that employees in the city’s public works department could potentially complete park paving at a lower cost, but aldermen deemed that not worthwhile because staff would be taken away from their normal duties for a week or more.
To pay for the entire playground construction project, aldermen are planning to tap into federal money granted to the city through the 2021 American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA). Wright City anticipates receiving about $869,000 in ARPA funds, and federal regulators have granted a wide latitude for city governments to decide how they want to use that funding.
Mayor Michelle Heiliger added that she also hopes a grant writing agency hired by the city will be able to find funding to retroactively reimburse some of the cost for the project.