Riverside officials reviewed an update on the renovations proposed to come to Turtle Park, with expectations that the work will be completed before the end of the year.
The project will see the entire playground at the park redone, with the southern area expanded to make room for larger play equipment, according to a staff memo. Exposed aggregate concrete will be installed over the walkways between the park’s different elements, with the sand and turtle in the southeast set to be refurbished.
To match the park’s theme, turtle tracks will be left in the pavement before it dries, said Steve Konters, a vice president at RVi Planning and Landscape Architecture, the firm behind the plans.
The swings on the north side of the park will also be replaced. The two toddler swings will remain, while the other two swings will be replaced with an accessible swing and a parent-and-child swing, Konters said.
“The proposed design not only maximizes available funding but addresses the feedback we received from residents, which was natural appearance, increased size of playground and activities for a wider range of ages,” said Ron Malchiodi, Riverside’s director of parks and recreation, at the village board’s March 5 meeting.
Most of the new playground equipment will be made of Robinia wood, which “has the same longevity as metal equipment,” according to the staff memo, while the swing set’s new frame will be made of steel in natural colors due to size constraints, Konters said.
According to the memo, the budget for the project was set at $250,000 to match the size of a state grant that Riverside staff are waiting to be disbursed shortly. In addition to the grant, the village will have access to leftover funds raised by its sesquicentennial committee now that the celebrations for Riverside’s 150th anniversary of incorporation have concluded. That gift will be about $20,000.
According to the memo, the project still comes in over its budget at about $402,000, but Malchiodi said staff are working to reduce the costs.
“While this project may appear over budget, the only estimate for this project was based on the available state funding of $250,000, so even the most basic replacement would have been over that threshold,” Malchiodi said. “The village manager, public works director and myself have met and already determined ways to lower costs by purchasing equipment directly and performing some aspects of the project in-house.”
That “most basic replacement” would have cost about $323,000, according to the memo.
Konters said the project will be ready to go to bid for construction contractors in April.
“This could still take advantage of the early spring bid market and set you up for a spring-summer construction to have this open still this year for play,” Konters said.
Renovations at Harrington Park, which were budgeted for 2026 and have been deferred to 2028 due to costs, will include a dedicated pickleball court, Malchiodi said. The court renovations are expected to cost $120,000, and the rest of the work on Harrington Park is budgeted at $500,000, according to the memo.
According to the memo, resurfacing and fence replacement at Indian Gardens are budgeted at $260,000 for 2027. Renovations to Patriots Park are also scheduled for 2027 and budgeted at $500,000.
