Nikole Babb
nbabb@cherryroad.com

First city park south of HWY 400

The City of Andover and residents celebrated a new city park opening on Tuesday evening. The park is unique in its relativity to the new Fire Station 2 and it’s positioning south of HWY 400.

Fire Station Park, located at 650 S Andover Road, finally officially opened on Tuesday, July 22. The park was long-awaited by residents who reside south of HWY 400, as they haven’t had their own park with a children’s playground on that side of the highway until now.

The park was funded by the Family Future Forward Initiative with a total cost of just over $500,000. Although the park was initially planned to be a splash pad, it was determined to be too high of a cost that could be used in a more productive way elsewhere. It was announced in May 2024 that the splash pad would instead be a dry playground.

“The reality of water issues and the cost of splash pads have grown exponentially,” said Rick Lanzrath, Director of Public Works and Utilities. “The budget just busted the idea. It would’ve been twice the cost and diverted $500,000 that we could’ve been spending on the next Family Future Forward project, which is the Community Center.”

The Family Future Forward Initiative is a temporary sales tax of 1% that will fund many city buildings and parks, including Fire Station Park, Fire Station 2, the remodel of Fire Station 1 and the reconstruction of 13th Street Sports Park.

The new playground, located directly beside Fire Station 2, is firehouse themed. Although some parts are still missing from the park like the shade structure, a miniature firetruck and interactive firehose, the rest of the playground is ready for play and fun in the sun.

The missing pieces are on backorder as of now but are expected to be installed by the end of August.

All photos by Nikole Babb.