Council Bluffs plans to do a $1 million renovation of Fairmount Park.
Mayor Matt Walsh and city officials announced the project Thursday. Fairmount Park is more than 100 years old, and at one time was a spot for ice skating, sledding, a petting zoo, and a bell tower.
Council Bluffs Parks Director Larry Foster says the project includes the addition of a water playground.
"The water playground features water jets that shoot up from the ground, they fall down from fixtures, they spin around, they go in rotation, they’re activated by a little thing that the kids push. And this one’s going to be a really unique one in the metro because most of these are very square and in the middle of open space. This one is very linear and actually there will be grand oak trees that will shade portions of it."
Foster says the plans call for restoring the park’s oak savanna and developing trails. The Fairmount Park restoration is scheduled to be complete next fall.
Both public and private sources of funding are paying for the project. The city of Council Bluffs received a $100,000 grant from the city’s Rotary Club for Fairmount Park.