An outdoor fitness area at Philomath City Park is close to becoming a reality, though a couple of last-minute snags have slightly delayed its completion.
Assistant City Manager Chelsea Starner provided an update Tuesday evening at the Philomath Park Advisory Board’s monthly meeting at City Hall, noting that most of the work is on track but that a missing component for the project’s signature piece of equipment has created a timing challenge.
“We had some parts that they kind of inadvertently didn’t tell us that we might need for our large trapeze structure, which is the big showcase piece of our exercise equipment,” Starner said.
She said getting the needed parts delivered in a timely fashion has been difficult but added that they were reportedly in transit and could arrive this week.
A separate issue involves the wood chips that will be spread across the fitness area’s surface. Starner said the supplier initially indicated a mid-July delivery but in a follow-up call suggested the wood chips might be installed around June 24 instead.
Despite the delays, the city is currently planning a ribbon-cutting ceremony for June 30 — the final day of the fiscal year, which had been a target from the start of the project. Starner described the event as a “workout party and ribbon-cutting,” with the hope that people will show up ready to try out the equipment.
According to information shared at a park board meeting last fall, the fitness area was to feature eight exercise stations — a cardio walker, balance board, body curl, balance beam, sit-ups, lat pull-down, trapeze rack and knee lift. The equipment is situated across the road from the skatepark and main playground — a location that allows parents to have the option of exercising while children play nearby.
Starner reflected on how the project came together, noting that it originated from the need to remove old equipment that had outlived its usefulness — not from the park master plan.
“It was an example of we had aging equipment there and it had to come out,” she said. “It wasn’t really assessed as part of the park master plan list at that time but it came up and the park board just said, ‘you know, we just don’t want to see the park sit there with nothing — we had to remove it.'”
Funding for the project — $50,000 set aside in the city’s capital improvement plan — came from park system development charges, the one-time fees collected from new development to support park expansion and improvements. Equipment and freight costs came in around $25,000, with installation to be handled in-house by Public Works employees.
“I think it was a good showcase of how sometimes, you do have opportunities that come up and we were able to get funds for that project,” Starner said. “So, I’m excited for it. I think it’s going to be a great addition. The park board put a lot of thought into helping with location and selection and public input.”
The project traces its public input roots to a survey conducted at the Philomath Farmers’ Market last summer when Park Advisory Board Chair Larry Sleeman and Mayor Christopher McMorran gathered feedback from more than 100 community members on which equipment they most wanted to see installed.
