Paulus Park gets new playground by May 1

Lake Zurich’s most popular park will have a new $250,000 treehouse-themed playground to replace the 17-year-old wooden “Kids’ Kingdom” by May 1.

The aging and deteriorating castle-themed equipment, built as a community project in 1996, was deemed unsafe and village officials sought ideas for new playgrounds in October.

“I put a lot more effort into this playground because it’s a community park rather than a neighborhood park,” said Dave Peterson, recreation and parks manager. “We have a lot of people who come to this park in the summer. It gets by far the most usage of any of our playgrounds.”

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Responding to the wishes of village residents, the playground will be built with enhanced visibility and play structures for varying age groups. The equipment will also blend in with the wooded surroundings at Paulus Park.

“The park is such a nice park. The residents wanted the playground to look natural. They liked not only the colors, but also the look of the shade structures,” said Peterson. “Visibility will also be much better than what we currently have. Right now you can’t see from one side to the other.”

The 9,475-square-foot area for the playground will remain the same and the trees will be untouched.

“For the most part it will almost be the same footprint,” Peterson said. The playground will also offer some of the same features, such as swings, slides and bridges, but there are also new aspects, such as increased handicapped accessible features.

Designed by Parkreation based in Prospect Heights, the playground with Little Tykes was the top vote-getter among the 253 residents who voted on 11 options in the fall.

“When we designed the park for Paulus, we really wanted to raise the bar with inclusive playgrounds. We wanted to go above and beyond what the standards are for accessibility in playgrounds,” said Lani Chaplik, sales representative for Parkreation. “We did a lot of details on the playground to incorporate all that. We have what’s called parallel play that will allow able-bodied children and disabled children to interact at the same time, or it could even be a mother with MS in a wheelchair. It’s really getting them to feel a part of the playground.”

The playground also features designated areas for 2- to 5-year-olds, as well as for 5- to 12-year-olds. There are rock climbing walls, spiral slides and spinning play equipment.

“There’s a lot of unique features to it,” Chaplik said.

Trustees agreed to hire Plainfield-based Hacienda Landscaping to remove the old playground and erect the new equipment, which should take about two weeks. During the process, the playground area will be fenced off, said Maria Guzman, owner of Hacienda Landscaping.

“We make sure everything is safe,” Guzman said. “We have to follow the specifications. We have to follow those instructions. And when we finish installing, we call out the manufacturer. They have to come to the job site to make sure everything is according to specifications.”

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