Long-awaited improvements and new additions, like pickleball courts, will be added to Shawnee’s Garrett Park this year.

The Shawnee City Council unanimously approved the final plans for $3.84 million in improvements to the 33-acre park off of 47th Street on Monday, Feb. 24. The vote was 8-0.

The plans include a new bodyweight exercise area, pickleball courts, updates to the ball fields and compliance with the federal Americans with Disabilities Act for both the park and its trails.

The project is funded by the city’s “Parks and Pipes” sales tax, a 1/8-cent citywide sales tax that funds municipal infrastructure improvements.

Improvements have been in the works

In 2004, Garrett Park was the first park funded by the city’s then-new “Parks and Pipes” sales tax, which residents renewed in 2023.

In 2020, it was noted in both the Shawnee Parks and Recreation Master Plan and ADA Transition Plan that the park was in need of updates.

The latest update the park received was in July 2022 when its playground got new safety surfacing.

After finishing improvements on Gum Springs Park in 2023, Garrett Park was the next target for upgrades.

There will be a number of renovations

Some of the renovations at the park will include:

• upgrading baseball fields and converting a half-court basketball court into two pickleball courts,
• replacing the current playground equipment with interactive equipment, including two swing sets, musical instruments and shop-themed playhouses designed to let kids engage with their imagination,
• replacing small playground equipment with the outdoor exercise area,
• and addressing ADA issues along the park’s paths.

Outdoor exercise area funding is aided by grant

A $40,000 grant by the National Fitness Campaign will help pay for part of the $160,000 bodyweight exercise area in the park. The remaining $120,000 will come from “Parks and Pipes” sales tax.

The grant funding, in particular, received praise from Concilmember Tony Gillette.

“That’s a real big win,” he said during Monday’s meeting.

It will feature seven exercise stations for users. People that need direction can scan a QR code at the fitness area to download an app that will guide them through the exercises.

Issues with pickleball courts will be addressed

During a public engagement survey for the project, Tonya Lecuru, Shawnee’s parks and recreation director, said pickleball scored “very high” on amenities that residents wanted for the park.

Gillette noted that other Johnson County cities, like Prairie Village, that have installed pickleball courts in recent years have received noise complaints.

Lecuru said the city is hoping to avoid that because the courts at Garrett Park will close at sundown because they are not lit at night.

“Knowing how we have other neighboring communities have had to deal with different things within pickleball, we made sure … that there was an additional study done already regarding the sound for it,” she said.

She added: “There’s about seven homes that will be within 300 feet of the pickleball courts. So we’re working on different mitigation activities that will do that.”

Councilmembers express concern, praise

While Gillette was happy with the project and the addition of pickleball courts, he said he was concerned about the lack of lighting.

“I think it’s a disservice if we put the expense of putting a really nice pickleball court in there and there’s no lights,” he said. “I would really think that when the sun goes down and it’s a little cooler in July and August, it’d be great time to go play pickleball. So I’d be really sensitive to see if we can find some other, better way to fix that issue.”

Lecuru noted that none of Shawnee’s parks have lighting at night.

“We currently do not have any type of lit fields or activity areas in any of the parks,” she said. “That has not been something we’ve normally looked for, other than with the existing tennis courts (where we added) additional lights. But it’s something we can consider in the future.”

Councilmember Laurel Burchfield praised the project for being inclusive.

“It means so much to me that you put so much work into the universal design of the playground, making sure everything is ADA compliant,” she said. “It feels like we go above and beyond and that means so much to the families with children who otherwise wouldn’t be able to go out and play on our playgrounds.”

What’s next

From March through May, the city will be accepting and evaluating bids, as well as starting preconstruction.

Construction is expected to begin in earnest in June and finish by December. During that time, the trails, ball fields and park will be closed.

“There’s a lot of ADA issues with the trails, to make sure that we bring them up to code,” she said. “So it’s going to be something that will be completely shut down during that  period of time.”

Throughout construction, the city will be giving updates on the work at its Garrett Park Improvement page.

Go deeper: Shawnee could use grant to add exercise area at city park