City Council unanimously approved the final design for the Wilson Hill Park playground replacement on May 4, 2026, clearing the way for an August demolition and a target opening before weather closes the construction window in October. The $350,000 project, appropriated by council earlier this spring, replaces the playground installed in 1999. The chosen design adds several inclusivity features, monkey bars added in response to neighborhood feedback, and a planned conversion of the existing swing set into a hammock-style hangout area for older kids.
Parks and Recreation Director Darren Hurley presented the design. The vendor is Mid-States Recreation; representative Eric Hinkle joined virtually.
How the design was chosen
Rendering of the completed playground renovations
Hurley walked council through a multi-step community feedback process that ran for several weeks:
- An initial online survey asked residents what they liked about the existing playground and what they wanted in a new one. 131 people responded.
- Two vendors were invited to sketch four playground options based on that survey input.
- The four designs were unveiled at an open house at the Worthington Community Center, drawing roughly 50 attendees over two hours.
- The same four options were posted online for further input. 150 people voted or commented.
- Hurley took the four designs to a Wilson Hill Elementary third-grade classroom of 45 students who, Hurley said, asked sharp questions and ultimately broke the tie between two designs that had run roughly even.
- The Parks and Recreation Commission discussed the designs at multiple meetings.
More than 65% of the Wilson Hill third-graders chose Option 2, the design council approved. The Parks and Recreation Commission then unanimously recommended Option 2 to council at its April meeting.
What's in the approved design
Rendering of the completed playground renovations
The new playground sits in roughly the same footprint as the existing one, slightly enlarged to accommodate swings on the playground side of the park (the current swings are on the far side, near the tennis courts).
Inclusivity features in the design:
- A communications board. Worthington has been adding these at multiple playgrounds, starting at Selby Park, where the city had to source the board separately. Mid-States now offers a board as part of its standard equipment. An Ohio State University speech and hearing science student conducted independent research on playground communication boards while the city was working on this project and recommended the board the city is installing, Hurley said.
- A wide, transfer-friendly slide. The same model is in use at Wilson Hill Elementary. Wider slide beds let two children, including children with mobility differences, go down together.
- A turf climbing wall with a gentle slope. Two of these are part of the structure; both are surfaced in artificial turf. Hurley said feedback emphasized that children do not have to climb the wall: they can transfer onto it and just hang out, which several residents flagged as something Worthington didn't have anywhere else.
- A body-strap swing. Hurley noted the strap-style swing is widely used by children with disabilities but also gets heavy use as a "rocket ship" or "airplane" by other kids.
- Multiple ways to access the elevated platform, including standard stairs with rails, a swing-style entry, and netting at the top.
- Monkey bars added late Survey responses repeatedly asked for monkey bars, which Option 2 had not initially included. Hurley said the vendor agreed to add them. He thanked the vendor for working that change into the final design.
Hurley said the playground surface itself will be artificial turf, the same approach the city has used recently at Heishman Field and Selby Park. The traditional rubber poured-in-place surfacing has not been holding up as long as the equipment, Hurley said, and the city is now evaluating both turf and a "bonded rubber" alternative across multiple playgrounds.
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A second-stage plan for the existing swing set
The current swing set near the tennis courts will not be demolished with the rest of the playground. Hurley said staff will leave it in place initially with a mulch surface to save cost; the posts have been there a long time and won't last as long as the new equipment. Once city crews finish their portion of the demolition and the budget picture is clear, Hurley plans to convert that structure into a hammock-style swing area for older kids and pre-teens, in response to feedback that said the playground needed a separate space for tweens.
The hammock-style swings will need to come from a commercial playground vendor, Hurley said, because Certified Playground Safety Inspectors will not accept residential-grade hammocks. Hurley said the conversion would not be ready for the October opening but is targeted for spring 2027.
Council discussion
Council members asked about ongoing maintenance costs of the artificial turf. Hurley said the turf on the climbing structure can be replaced section-by-section if it wears, without replacing the equipment. The turf safety surfacing has performed well in other Worthington locations.
During discussion, a council member shared a personal story in support of the design: when her daughter was young and had special needs, the family had to drive to Dublin to find playground equipment her daughter could use. The new Wilson Hill design, she said, made her family feel "finally accepted" in Worthington. Council members also noted that the communication-board approach Worthington pioneered at Selby Park has now been adopted as a standard by the City of Columbus and is increasingly appearing in vendor catalogs across central Ohio.
The motion to approve passed unanimously.
What's next
Hurley told council the city wants to finalize its order with Mid-States immediately. City crews will handle initial demolition and prep work in late August, timed to begin around the start of the school year so as not to disrupt summer use, and the vendor will install the new equipment with a goal of opening in October before weather closes the construction window. The hammock-area conversion is targeted for spring 2027.