Poppleton Park inclusive playground approved

By Grace Lovins

Birmingham city commissioners on Monday, November 17, unanimously approved the long-anticipated redesign of Poppleton Park’s playground.

The project, planned as the city’s first fully inclusive and accessible playground, comes alongside approval to create new ADA-compliant parking spaces on Oxford Street to support families using the park.

The upgraded playground is part of Birmingham’s city-wide playground improvement plan. Per parks and recreation manager Carrie Laird, the city contracted with Penchura LLC to handle the equipment selection, design and installation of the city’s current park projects. Work at Lincoln Well and Pumphouse are almost complete, Laird said, with Poppleton up next and Pembroke to follow.

Laird walked commissioners through the final concept, noting that Poppleton was always envisioned as the city’s first and fully accessible park. The design includes a fully accessible tower structure, poured-in-place surfacing, a fully enclosed main tower slide, accessible swings, wheelchair accessible play features, sensory elements, a sandbox, shade structures and dating areas.

Throughout the process, the city engaged the public through surveys and public meetings to gather input from the general public and the neighborhood surrounding the park. Several commissioners acknowledged the design for reflecting the input that was provided to the parks and recreation board and city staff throughout the process.

“It’s wonderful to fulfill the promise to the community that we made when they voted to support the parks bond back in 2020,” said commissioner Therese Longe, who served on the parks and recreation board for over a decade before joining the commission.

After commissioners voted unanimously, 7-0, to approve the playground design and equipment purchase, the commission turned to discussing parking which drew differing opinions.

The parks and recreation board recommended adding five parallel ADA-compliant spaces along Oxford Street, noted in the meeting packet to be option D. Longe emphasized that the board viewed protected, accessible parking areas as essential for residents who unload wheelchairs or need to safely get kids in and out of the car.

Commissioner Andrew Haig supported the design of angled parking which would create 12 ADA-compliant spaces, but Longe noted that the neighborhood strongly opposed the design saying it didn’t work well with the neighborhood. Ultimately, the commission sided with the board’s recommendation for the five parallel ADA spaces, again voting unanimously, 7-0, to approve the parking design. City staff was also directed to look into adding a dedicated drop-off area and wayfinding signage to the plan at the request of the commission.