A rendering of the proposed Audubon Park playground renovation. (Provided)
Portions of Audubon Park closed this week as a $1.8 million renovation of the park began.
The park will get a new playground area, inclusive to all children, and the tennis courts will be replaced by pickleball and Ecuavoley courts and a futsol court.
Ecuavoley, an Ecuadorian variant of volleyball, is similar to volleyball, except that it uses a soccer ball and has three players on a team. Futsol is a version of soccer that is often played indoors on a hard surface.
There will be new paths and lighting, and the existing basketball court will be renovated.
The popular neighborhood pool will be shut down for one month because of the nearby construction, and the playground and courts will not be open until the project is completed in late September or October.
The project has been in the works since about 2019, said project manager Bianca Paz of the Minneapolis Park & Recreation Board (MPRB). She said it has been waiting until money was available.
Paz said there have been three community open houses to talk about the project; additionally, park staff has met with neighbors, the neighborhood association and with the growing Ecuadoran community in Northeast.
Several changes have been made to the initial plan. MPRB is no longer planning to build a dog park.
Another change is that the playground, which will feature a resilient surface to accommodate wheelchairs, will also have a sand-covered area. “Some residents wanted to keep a portion of sand because kids like the tactile experience,” Paz said.
The tennis courts, which are overgrown with weeds and have seen little play in recent years, will be replaced by two pickleball/Ecuavoley courts. Pickleball has been a growing sport in the United States, and Ecuavoley is a favorite of the Ecuadorian community.
It will be possible to adjust the nets’ height depending on the game being played.
The basketball court will get a new surface along with benches. A stormwater basin will be added as an environmental improvement.
Audubon Park, named after the American naturalist John James Audubon, was purchased by the city in 1910. The city added its first playground apparatus in 1921. A shelter was completed in 1960, and the current rec center was opened in 1979. New playground equipment was added in 1997.
The eastern portion of the park contains soccer fields, and the park is a popular spot in the wintertime because of its sledding hill.
Paz said a major effort was made to reach all the stakeholders for the park. She personally went and talked with moms using the rec center. “A lot of people don’t like to come to meetings, and so we go out to find them,” she said. “I have found that Northeast people are very agreeable.”
Paz was asked about a nationwide trend where neighbors have complained about pickleball facilities because of the sound made when the balls hit the paddles. She said no one came forth at any part of the community engagement to talk about the pickleball courts.
She said one area of concern is where Buchanan Street dead-ends at the south end of the park: People have been using the street and adjacent alley to park. She said it is not part of the park, and it comes under the city’s jurisdiction.
“We think we’ve done good community engagement,” Minneapolis Park & Recreation Board Commissioner Billy Menz said. “It’s one thing the Park Board tries to do well.”
Menz, whose district includes Northeast Minneapolis, said the MPRB listened to the public, and the improvements to the park are the result of that dialogue. “I especially like the Ecauvoley courts,” he said.
Paz said the MPRB will have a grand re-opening when work is done.