New playground equipment debuts at Ephrata's Lions Park
By early afternoon, the playground was crowded with kids and families enjoying a sunny spring afternoon.
EPHRATA — Wielding an outsized pair of scissors, Ephrata parks and recreation director Josh Johnson snipped a red ribbon dedicating the addition of new playground equipment at Lions Park during a brief ceremony that was cheered by city staff and public works employees Friday morning.
With the new structures — intended for toddlers and youngsters up to age 12 — now in place, the park was officially reopened to the public after being closed in December for construction, said Johnson.
Apparently word spread fast: by early afternoon, the playground was crowded with kids and families enjoying a sunny spring afternoon.
For their support of the project, Johnson gave “a big shout out” to members of Ephrata’s parks advisory commission, city council members, and public works personnel who “did a great job” in putting the components together.
Discussions began early last year and involved a review of several different designs, he said.
Johnson said the project’s total cost was $118,000.
It was funded by “impact fees” collected by the city from developers in lieu of their establishing parks and green spaces in new residential subdivisions — a provision of the state’s Growth Management Act.
In February 2022, the city council voted to increase Ephrata’s in-lieu park fee from $281 to $1,800 per lot, saying the additional revenue would help improvements of local parks and offset the cost of staff time in reviewing the developers’ preliminary plats.
