McLean County is moving closer to adding a splash pad at Myer Creek Park, part of a broader effort to expand recreation options for families across the county.
McLean County Judge-Executive Curtis Dame said the project received nearly $200,000 in state funding through House Bill 900, with support from Rep. Jim Gooch and Sen. Gary Boswell.
“We get to make a splash on the splash pad,” Dame said. “I want to give credit where it’s due, because they got that put in for us.”
The splash pad is planned for Myer Creek Park near the bathhouse. Dame said discussions began before last year’s flooding, and the county continued working on the project through engineering and funding discussions.
According to a June 1 project update from Commonwealth Engineers, the evaluation of splash pad system technologies has been completed and presented to the Fiscal Court. The court must now decide whether to proceed with a drain-away system or a recirculation system before design and procurement can move forward.
Dame said the county has already studied the cost-effectiveness of the options and has been looking at the project in phases, including the infrastructure needed to support the splash pad.
“It’s all been researched, engineered, and evaluated,” Dame said.
Dame said the project is about more than adding a water feature. He said it gives families a free, local recreation option at a time when travel, fuel, and other costs remain high.
“It is dollars saved that he or she or their families get to stay here in the county for recreation and still visit our local restaurants,” Dame said. “Some of our families right now, with high fuel prices and other costs, may not have that disposable income to take their kids to adjoining counties or theme parks.”
Dame said the splash pad could become a summer destination for local families.
“On a weekend afternoon, you can run down to the park, put your bathing suit on, take your kids down there, have a good time, and it’s no cost,” he said. “That’s what it’s about — making our county attractive for new young families, not only to move here, but to want to stay.”
The splash pad is one piece of a larger recreation push.
Dame said McLean County also recently agreed with the school district to help manage and improve tee-ball fields at Calhoun Elementary, Livermore Elementary, and Marie Gatton Phillips Elementary. The lease agreement is for $1 and allows the county to help maintain and upgrade the fields while they remain school property.
Dame said the county is not trying to build new fields when existing ones can be improved.
“To me, it just makes logical sense to improve what we’ve got rather than build new fields,” he said. “At the end of the day, when you go to play tee-ball, you don’t care who owns it. You just want the field to be nice.”
