POWELL — Powell City Council approved plans Tuesday for a new Adventure Park playground, but several parents of children with disabilities said the project falls short of true accessibility.
Council unanimously approved purchasing $449,473 in new playground equipment through the city’s 2026 Capital Improvement Budget to replace Adventure Park’s 20-year-old playground.
That price reflects a $250,000 discount on the playground equipment through the city’s designation as a PlayCore Center for Outreach, Research and Education (CORE) National Demonstration Site for Inclusive Play. The discount applies only to the equipment, not the playground surfacing.
According to a memo sent to council, the new playground will include “accessible routes, inclusive play equipment, sensory-rich play experiences, accessible surfacing, gathering spaces and communication features that encourage children of all abilities to play together.”
“This will be the first-of-its-kind investment in the city: a new park system that will be accessible to a wider demographic,” City Manager Andy White told council.
Director of Public Service Charles Duke said a crew will begin prepping the site shortly after approval, and look to install the new rubber surface in early 2027.
The plans approved by the city include rubber surfacing around portions of the playground, while the remaining areas would use engineered wood fiber mulch.
But several Powell parents argued the playground cannot truly be considered accessible without a fully rubberized surface.
“This isn’t truly inclusion: it’s minimal compliance wearing inclusion’s name,” Powell mother Anne Duprey told council during public comment.
For Duprey, whose daughter has physical disabilities, the difference in surfaces is significant.
“With the rubber the way it is, not fully encompassing all of it, it shows disabled children where they belong and where they don’t,” she said.
“And for a kid like mine, who has physical disabilities that make walking through mulch really hard…it shows her that the swing that she’s capable of using is somewhere where she’s not supposed to be.”
Emily Dean, another Powell mother, said reviewing the plans was “a gut punch” because she immediately saw the barriers they would create for her daughter, who has Rett syndrome.
“When I looked at the plan, I saw everything that Ila couldn’t do,” Dean said. “I saw every place where she couldn’t be with her friends and with her siblings. It just isn’t fair and it isn’t right.”
Mother of two Alyssa Poskarbiewicz also urged the city to consider parents and grandparents who rely on universally designed spaces to safely care for children with disabilities.
City says budget limits full rubber surfacing
Councilman David Lester said he had not previously viewed the plans through the lens of accessibility and asked staff to explore what a fully rubberized surface would cost.
“We met with members of the community who voiced their concerns, and, look, they’re trying to get creative on how we meet those needs,” said Director of Public Service Charles Duke.
“We understand the need, but it comes down to financial implications, so we’re trying to be the best we can for the community.”
According to Duke, replacing all of the engineered wood fiber with rubber surfacing would add approximately $350,000 to the project.
City Manager Andy White said a full rubber surface is the best course of action, but he recommends the city do so gradually to work within budgetary constraints.
He said there are plans to expand the rubber surfacing beneath all swing sets in 2026, and expand upon them in phase two in 2027.
White also said he was happy to work with the parent group in the room regarding fundraising and that there may be other avenues to get funding for the project.
Duprey asked that the city include her and other families with disabilities on conversations about future park equipment purchases.
“I personally volunteer to volunteer my time to write grants. I will go out there and fundraise to make it happen,” she said. “And for every park after this one, let’s make full accessibility and inclusion the standard from the beginning.”
