Fitness court planned as latest improvement at Rotary Park

At this point, it’s two parks in one.

The massive, multiyear road project at 26th Street and Southeastern Avenue forced some changes to the adjacent Rotary Park that ultimately led to improvements.

For now, visitors can use both the old section on the east side of the Big Sioux River and the newly installed area on the west side.

“The parking lot is gone, and it’s grass, and the restroom and the playground and all those other amenities are still there,” said Don Kearney, the city’s director of parks and recreation.

“Then at the end of its useful life, we’ll remove that.”

The new section, which was installed a couple of years ago, includes a new playground, picnic shelter and landscaping.

And assuming the city’s proposed 2022 budget is approved, Rotary Park will have another new addition: a fitness court.

“We’ve got a concept plan, but it’s been held up because they used the area proposed for staging (during construction), so that’s what we’ve been waiting on, and now that the site is cleared, they’ve approved us to install the fitness court,” Kearney said.

The concept includes fitness stations – outdoor exercise equipment – “so if you’re running down the trail and you want to get strength training in, it’s kind of like an outdoor gym,” he continued.

The fitness court is the first in the city’s parks system.

“That’s something people have asked about,” Mayor Paul TenHaken said. “It’s another investment in the bike trail, and I think people will really like it and appreciate it. I can see there being programming down there.”

If approved, the fitness court will be installed next year.