Dankwardt Park Playground Project

Project Site

Dankwardt Park is Burlington's premier active park.  Features within Dankwardt Park include archery range, baseball diamonds, disc golf course, tennis courts, municipal pool, skate park, dog park and much more. Dankwardt Park is also situated directly next to Crapo Park, our park system's passive park where you can find amenities including Lake Starker, the Hawk Eye Log Cabin, Shakespeare Garden, scenic overlooks, and the Arboretum. This location also has two adjacent, reserveable shelters, a newly updated restroom, and an access drive with dedicated parking.  The existing playground being replaced in Dankwardt is nearly 40 years old and has had components removed in recent years due to age and deterioration.  Having a new playground of the planned scope will add great value to the existing, well-loved amenities in this area and provide the community and region with a  safe, inclusive place to play, develop skills, and have fun.

Playground Elements

Parks staff is working very closely with Confluence Design Firm to make this a destination playground that is inclusive to all. It is a priority for the City to include elements in this playground that will allow all children to be challenged, included and implement a free play concept in choosing what events to use. We are using design that taps into children's intuitive development and sense of adventure, challenges motor skills, strength and agility, increases hand-eye coordination and develops and creative level of problem solving. The playground public open house and input survey completed in Fall of 2021 focused on the following three areas:

• Development Skills (Balance, Interactive, Challenging, etc.)
• Equipment Options (Play Structures, Slides, Obstacles, Climbers, etc.)
• Inclusive Events (Musical Instruments, Chair Swings, Inclusive Spinners, etc.)

Best practices are being taken into consideration for playground layout. These include accessibility, age separation, sight lines, signage and organization of activities by category (i.e. spacing for heavy-use equipment, dispersing active and quiet activities throughout, etc.).