GaGa ball, pickleball and hiking trails: NKY city's parks get $500K for improvements

Yahoo

16-04-2025

Dayton residents can expect new ways to get out and get active this coming year as the city approved several large projects Monday that will focus on enhancing features of their community parks.
Officials of the small Northern Kentucky city said in a news release they plan to invest $500,000 into two of its marquee parks: Gill Lynn Park and Sargeant Park. The investment will make way for four new pickleball courts, a new GaGa ball pit, resurfaced basketball courts, updated playground equipment, revitalized hiking trails and more.
'We are very fortunate to have seven great public parks in our city,' Baker said. 'Gil Lynn is one of our largest parks and our most active park, but it is starting to show its age, and these improvements will make it a more inviting public space for our children, our residents and our visitors.'
This development coincides with the efforts of Southbank Partners, a nonprofit regional economic development organization serving the urban core of Northern Kentucky that aims to improve and add more recreational opportunities to the region. Gail Lynn Park, in particular, is one of the several parks that sits on the nonprofit's Riverfront Commons, an in-progress, 20-mile continuous multi-modal corridor that lines the south bank of the Ohio River.
The first of many developments in Dayton kicked off with the addition of a highly anticipated GaGa ball pit, a fast-paced, dodgeball-style game played in an octagonal pit with walls in Gil Lynn Park.
The school unveiled the $4,000 GaGa pit to students in a surprise ceremony Monday after several weeks of discussion between Mayor Ben Baker and City Administrator Jay Fossett regarding the future improvements they wanted to see at Gil Lynn Park.
'When we met with members of the student council, they provided us with a lot of good ideas about how to improve Gil Lynn Park, but construction of a GaGa pit was by far their top priority,' Baker said.
Dayton's park board made many recommendations to City Council for improvements it would like to see in Gil Lynn Park, which is next to Lincoln Elementary, Dayton High School and the school district's athletic complex that is currently under construction but will be dedicated late this summer.
City staff and council discussed these recommendations at its strategic planning session on Monday, according to Baker.
A week prior on April 8, the Dayton City Council approved a contract to spend $111,300 to improve the pavilion, garage, bathrooms and concession stand at Gil Lynn Park and the pavilion at Sargeant Park, according to the release.
Due to its proximity to the high school and elementary school, the school district and its students are often the heaviest users of the park. The schools also use the park for gym classes, recesses and special events.
Other Gil Lynn Park improvements recommended by the park board and city staff are:
Construction of four pickleball courts ($145,000).
Replacement of playground equipment ($200,000).
Resurfacing basketball courts ($40,000).
The city will also turn their focus to Sargeant Park, located in the southern part of the city with over two miles of hiking trails and Covert Run creek.
With these new developments, the city is also working alongside the Northern Kentucky Stream and Wetland Restoration Program at Northern Kentucky University to undertake a major stream restoration project in Sargeant Park.
This program will address erosion problems caused by the creek, remove dangerous trees and incorporate other improvements to the park and its ecosystem.
The stream restoration project is currently being reviewed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which approves projects such as this. When completed, these improvements are expected to be in the range of $1 million.
Funding for these projects is possible due to several grants and the implementation of the city's park tax, which has seen a substantial increase in revenue in recent years due to further developments in the city.
Both the city of Dayton and Dayton Independent Schools will contribute to this funding to supply and construct the playground equipment at Gil Lynn Park. Much of the existing playground equipment at the park is around 20 years old and in poor condition.
'This new GaGa pit and the other improvements the city plans to make at Gil Lynn Park means the world to these kids, especially since they had the opportunity to speak up and have their voices heard by the city administration,' said Dayton Independent Schools Superintendent Rick Wolf. 'It's important for our schools and our city to continue to work together and see what we can do to make things better for our kids.'
As for Sargeant Park, Dayton invested $200,000 to construct trails and make other improvements back in 2021, which was funded by multiple grants from the Kentucky Recreational Trails (KRT) program, L'Oreal, Duke Energy and the City Park Tax Fund, according to the release.
Also, in 2024, the city obtained another $120,000 grant from the KRT program to enhance the existing trails and construct new ones in the park. The project was recently completed and the improved trails were reopened to the public a couple weeks ago.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Dayton, Kentucky, pours $500K into city parks for improvements