Plans Revealed to Rebuild Denton's Eureka Playground

The plans are in and Denton’s Eureka Playground 2 could be a reality by the end of the year.

On Tuesday, leaders with the Denton Parks Foundation and the Eureka 2 planning committee revealed the first full-color design schematics for the park to NBC 5.

The designs, provided by Play by Design, show the playground will be split into two spaces to accommodate different age groups. They will feature all the expected items like swings, slides and plenty of climbing space as well as some special add-ons like tunnels, a fake monster truck and a zip-line.

Play by Design met with elementary school students in the Denton Independent School District last month to get their ideas for the new space and create the design based on that.

Overhead concepts were released at a community meeting, but this is the first time the drawings have been finalized into what volunteers would like to be the actual final design for the playground.

The current Eureka Playground at South Lakes Park was built about 20 years ago and is now hitting its expected shelf-life, but safety at the park became a serious concern in the past few years when it was discovered that a pesticide used to treat the wood structure originally contains arsenic, which could cause harm.

The city immediately took steps to prevent problems by sealing the wood regularly, but warning signs are still posted around the structure telling parents to wash their children’s hands for safety after being on the equipment.

Chrissy Mallouf, who serves as volunteer chairperson to rebuild the park, said it is simply time to move forward with a new playground that Denton can grow with for the foreseeable future.

Eureka was originally built and funded by the community, and that’s a tradition Mallouf and her team plan to continue this time around. They have already begun searching for corporate and private donations to rebuild and say, when the time comes, the park will be physically built by community volunteers as well.

At this point they are still figuring out the final cost, but it’s estimated at about $500,000.

The committee plans to meet again with the public Wednesday night at 6 p.m. at the Denton Civic Center to continue gathering volunteers and to update the public.

Mallouf said they hope to tear down the current structure and do a marathon building of the new one over about a week’s time in November if all goes to plan.

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