ESCANABA, Mich. (WZMQ) – For the last few years, the City of Escanaba Recreation Department has been planning to transform the Webster Wading Pool into a splash pad. However, a series of setbacks has delayed its installation.
According to Recreation Director and Harbormaster Kim Peterson, the department secured funding for the project from the DNR Trust Fund and the City in 2021.
“It was approved, but the process is usually pretty slow,” she explained. “We got the grant award in 2021, we signed all the agreements in 2022, and then of course COVID happened. Right now, we are in the process of doing catch-up.”
Peterson says the pandemic caused supply and demand issues. When the department put out a bid to more than 60 contractors for the project, no one responded.
“We wanted a rubberized matting for the surface,” said Peterson. “They were saying that because of COVID, that price has quadrupled. That is not logical for us to do anymore. We did have approximately a nine-month timeline we wanted the project to be done, but from what contractors were saying, it was not realistic.”
The Recreation Department is working on a new bid, this time incorporating a more affordable cement surface, which will be put out this fall. While Peterson had originally hoped for a July 2024 installation, the new goal is for construction to take place in 2025.
“We are very bummed that it’s not going to get done in a timely manner,” she said. “However, all of that is out of our control. We are at the mercy of a contractor who wants to come in and do the project because it’s a very centralized, unique project. Not any contractor can just come in and build a splash park, so we’re kind of in a smaller market on that.”
Peterson says the grant funding is still in place for the splash pad. Additionally, sponsors have come on board to add several amenities to the splash pad.
“We have the Delta Menominee Great Start Coalition, they’re going to put in a little play area,” Peterson said. “Kobasic Foundation, Delta County Youth Advisory Program, and Delta County Community Foundation also gave us funding for some picnic tables, for some shaded areas, a little book station. Even though it is a splash park, we are going to expand upon that project.”
The splash pad was originally set to be a $225,000 project.
“As everybody is aware, the economy has changed since then,” said Peterson. “We’re hoping to maybe scale a few things back, but the same project’s going to be there. It might not be as big as we thought it was going to be, but we won’t know any of that until we actually get a bit submitted so we can review all the figures and see what we need to cut back or where we can find more funds to build what we actually want.”
For more background information on the splash pad project, click here.
