The Denison City Council on Tuesday approved AB Creative, based in DeSoto, Kansas, as the company to help design a new playground at Washington Park.

AB Creative was the company recommended by the Denison Parks & Rec Commission after a presentation on Monday night.

Two other playground vendors had presented to the commission the week before on Monday – Cunninham Recreation and Park Planet.

A total of eight companies responded to the city’s request for proposals, and AB Creative, Cunningham Recreation and Park Planet were selected as the top three and were asked to give presentations.

The next steps, which will come through a series of meetings, will be to design the playground and to decide on a budget.

Mayor Pam Soseman said that Mike Cedar with Beck Engineering had a lot of input on the selection of a company.

“He said everybody could do basically the same thing, but this particular company (AB Creative) is known for its rope system, and it creates physical activity with children, creativity, creative thinking and great recreational sport,” the mayor said.

She continued that while the company is known for its rope system, that doesn’t mean it will be the only component of the playground because AB Creative can supply regular park equipment as well.

Councilman Dustin Logan added later that the product isn’t actually rope.

It is a material with a steel core encased in nylon rope.

“One thing that appealed to the majority of the crew (commission) is the different types of play they offer,” said Logan. “They’re (AB Creative is) famous for its rope system, but their standard ramp slide-style equipment is also really good as well, so it gives us the option to be flexible and have a little bit of both instead of being married to one or the other.”

Logan continued that none of the vendors were too far apart on their pricing but that with the roping material the city could receive more equipment.

“To Pam’s (Soseman’s) point, that’s not saying the entire park is going to be rope-style equipment,” he added. “Beck Engineering did speak very highly of AB Creative and has worked with them before. They are very optimistic about the project, as well. The presentation was great. The board, I think, is enthusiastic.”

Logan is the council’s liaison to the Parks & Rec Commission.

Soseman explained that to compare apples to apples, each company had to give its presentation based on a half million-dollar equipment budget. She qualified that this does not mean that will be the budget.

“Mike (Cedar) did share with us afterwards that every company presented something that was much larger than what we would actually need, so that price would come down, hopefully,” she added.

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The surface for the playground would be separate from the cost of playground equipment.

Logan said for surfacing, many options were presented.

“We saw everything from a half million dollars of equipment, and then the project ended up being $1.2 or $1.3 million, or as low as the mid-60s ($600,000) or 70s ($700,000) with mulching and surfacing like that. We definitely have a ton of options,” he added. “We feel really good about this recommendation.”

The life expectancy of the rope material is 30 years but Soseman said the engineer saw some that has lasted 40 years.

The equipment has a warranty.

Sam Ellis, director of Parks & Rec, said that there have been no catastrophic incidents with the rope structures.

“You can’t say that about anything else,” he added.

The plan for the playground is to have different areas for different age groups and to have some all-inclusive equipment.

City Manager Jessica Garcia pointed out that AB Creative was the only one of the three presenters that did not offer a maintenance plan, and that is something the city will have to ask for.

Logan said that the commission members did ask those questions during the presentation.

He clarified that the city council would be voting on Tuesday only to use AB Creative, and not voting on a park design or a cost at that time.

Ellis told The Denison Free Press that the public will be involved in helping to choose playground equipment.

Parks & Rec Commission members, Ellis, representatives from Beck Engineering and AB Creative and others will be involved in the decision-making process, as well.

The new playground will fill the site where Kids Kastle was demolished on August 21. The demolition was due to safety concerns brought up by the City of Denison’s insurance carrier, the Iowa Communities Assurance Pool.

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