photo by: Courtesy: Creative Commons Asher196

Above is an example of a spray park in Bay City, Mich.

Spray soon will be the hot new type of play in Lawrence. At least that is what Lawrence Parks & Recreation officials are betting.

The department has filed plans to build a new $400,000 water spray feature within Lyons Park in North Lawrence, and the city’s first spray and play area is set to open in eastern Lawrence by midsummer, after experiencing some delays.

If you are of an age where a spray feature meant your sibling got a mouthful of pool water and aimed in your direction, you are forgiven. Spray parks are still an emerging component in the recreation field, especially in Lawrence.

Mark Hecker, assistant director of Lawrence Parks and Recreation, told me the North Lawrence area will be about 3,000 square feet of concrete with multiple devices sticking out of the ground. Youngsters — or just those young at heart — will be able to push a button that starts the water flowing out of one of the devices and also activates a timer so that the water automatically shuts off.

In other words, it is a higher-tech and cooler version of playing in the sprinkler in the backyard.

photo by: Chad Lawhorn/Journal-World

Plans have been filed for a spray park to be constructed at Lyons Park in North Lawrence. The spray park will be near where the existing playground is located. A new playground will be built farther to the east.

Lawrence decided to get into the spray park business a few years ago, but it has been slow to develop. The city chose the Burroughs Creek Trail and Linear Park — which is just west of 15th and Haskell in eastern Lawrence — as the location for the city’s first spray park.

It took a while for that project to develop, but it has, and construction work was far along on the spray park. However, Hecker told me a problem recently occurred with the construction that has delayed the opening.

“We had it 90% complete, and then we had a review of the project and weren’t happy with the concrete finishing,” he said.

All the concrete has been removed and work is underway to replace it. Hecker told me the city had hoped to open the park in early May, but now it likely will be late June, at the soonest.

“But it will be open this summer for sure,” he said.

photo by: Chad Lawhorn/Journal-World

Construction work is underway at the Burroughs Creek Trail and Linear Park in eastern Lawrence for a new spray park.

The Lyons Park spray park will not be open this summer. The project currently is going through the site plan review process at Lawrence City Hall. Hecker anticipates the city will accept construction bids on the project in the late summer, and hopefully start construction in the fall. That would mean the spray park would be ready by the time swim season arrives next year.

There will be quite a bit of other work going on at Lyons Park as well. Hecker said plans call for the playground to be torn out and replaced. It will move a bit to the east to make room for the spray park. When reconstructed, the playground will have a new, soft synthetic surface instead of the wood mulch that exists today. The synthetic surface will be similar to what exists at several of the other new playgrounds in the community.

photo by: Chad Lawhorn/Journal-World

The playground at Lyons Park will have a soft, synthetic surface similar to that shown above at Burroughs Park in eastern Lawrence.

The old shelter house at Lyons Park also will be torn down and replaced with a more modern structure. But Hecker said that work isn’t scheduled until 2024.

The spray park at Lyons Park likely won’t be the last for the city. Hecker said the city’s master plan envisions the spray parks distributed throughout the city. The decision was made to start on the east side of town in Burroughs Creek and then to move to North Lawrence. Hecker said the city likely will start examining sites in west Lawrence next. Then, he said, the city will have a decision to make about whether it wants to replace the old wading pool in South Park with a spray park.

The spray parks have some safety advantages over wading pools and swimming pools, giving young children an opportunity to enjoy the water without having to go into standing water. That’s been a selling point for some cities.

The spray parks, though, aren’t necessarily cheap. The city has budgeted $400,000 just for the spray park portion of the Lyons Park project, Hecker said. The project still has to go to bid, though, which means the final price is subject to change. The city has budgeted about $140,000 for the playground replacement and a few miscellaneous repairs at the park, Hecker said.

The good news is that the city does have money set aside in the budget for the project. It is part of the city’s parks and recreation master plan, which aims to improve parks across the community and generally gets a set amount of funds each year as part of the city’s budget process.

photo by: Chad Lawhorn/Journal-World photo

Plans call for the old shelter house at Lyons Park to be replaced with a more modern shelter house in 2024.