Five Lenexa parks are getting new playground gear. Here’s a look at the updates

Five of Lenexa’s neighborhood parks will get new playground equipment through an agreement between the city and Lenexa-based Athco LLC, unanimously approved by the City Council this week.

The city will pay nearly $550,000 through its capital improvement program to buy the equipment and have Athco install it at Gillette, Heritage Forest, John McNerney, Sar-Ko-Par Trails and Tamarisk parks, according to a Tuesday memo to the council from Parks and Recreation Deputy Director Logan Wagler.

Lenexa Parks Superintendent Danny Huntsinger said in an interview that playground equipment in the city’s neighborhood parks (the smaller of which have no parking and are also called pocket parks) “are past their useful life, and we’re going to bring in something fresh.” Neighborhood park playgrounds should last from 18 to 20 years, he said, and they provide meaningful benefits for the community.

“Parks are heavily used and a big draw,” Huntsinger said.

(Read more: Prairie Village Post – Neighborhood news and events for Prairie Village, Fairway, Mission Hills)