CLEVELAND HEIGHTS, Ohio — Renovating the Coventry Peace Park on Washington Boulevard has been in the works since 2021, and now its playground is one month out from opening.
The updates to the park will cost $3.2 million.
Heights Libraries Communications Manager Sheryl Banks said the Fund the Future of the Heights Libraries will cover half of the cost, and Heights Libraries will cover the other half.
"The Fund for the Future of Heights Libraries is still doing some fundraising. They've gotten up to about a million right now," Banks shared.
Costs being covered by the Library, since they reflect the park as an extension of the Coventry Branch Library and will allow increased use of the park for library programming and activities, include:
- Wifi for the park area
- More extensive lighting of the park (for safety)
- Security cameras
- Accessibility improvements to the park, such as leveling some of the park’s steep hills to accommodate walkways, seating, a storybook loop, and play equipment that is compliant with the Architectural Barriers Act (ABA) of 1968, which requires structures built by government agencies to be accessible. The City of Cleveland Heights has also contributed to these improvements with both ARPA and CDBG (Community Development Block Grant) funds.
- Construction of a retaining wall to protect the lower playground
"We're really excited," Banks said.
The park will also include a cardinal-shaped climbing structure, a 60-foot zip line, swings, including one that is ADA accessible and a pavilion.
Construction started in June, and the playground was set to open in the fall of 2024, but delays in materials set Heights Libraries back.
"Some of it was just ordering things. There's always delays. Our cardinal was a little bit delayed and the pavilion, we were hoping to have that in the fall," Banks said.
According to Banks, the pavilion is expected to arrive next week.
The playground will open on Sunday, Feb. 16, at 3 p.m.
Heights Libraries will hold a ribbon-cutting ceremony with warm refreshments. It will also raffle off the first ride down the slide.
However, a portion of the park will still be sectioned off from use for a few more months.
"Anywhere there is grass is going to be cordoned off so only the play structures are going to be accessible, really just the playground. The grassy areas have to remain closed. That's so the grass can kind of get a hold over the winter and the spring. Otherwise it's going to turn into a big mud pit, so we want to make sure that we have a nice grass coverage," Banks added.
She estimates the grassy areas will open in May.
"For the May opening, we're going to have something called a storybook loop. What that is going to be is the walkway that goes around the park, we're going to have basically big signs and we're going to, once a quarter, choose a different picture book and we're going to reproduce that picture book in the signage so that families and little ones can walk around the park and read a story while they're walking," Banks said.
If you'd like to donate to the Fund for the Future of Heights Libraries, CLICK HERE.
