Waukee Opens 2 Neighborhood Parks in 1 Week

Waukee, Iowa –This week, Waukee Parks and Recreation opened its 21^st and 22^nd parks in the Spring Crest and Painted Woods West neighborhoods. Over the last several years, adding neighborhood parks has been a strategic priority for Waukee City Council. With 22 parks and miles of trails, outdoor recreation and play spaces for community members are never far away.

“Our community deeply values community spaces and outdoor amenities,” said Mayor Courtney Clarke. “The number of families that have expressed their appreciation for these parks and the joy on the kids’ faces at the ribbon cutting inspire the City Council and I to keep investing in these gathering places.”

Both parks involved residents of the neighborhood in which the park is located. They talked to the design team about what features they wanted to see and gave feedback on proposed designs. In addition, Spring Crest had some special consultants, the 3^rd grade class at Waukee Elementary in March 2024. The class invited Matt Jermier, Parks and Recreation Director, to come in and talk with them during their unit exploring parks and culture around the world. Then the kids presented their ideas.

“They drew pictures of their ideas of the perfect park, like a big hill with a long slide, inclusive elements so kids of all abilities can play together and things that would be fun and challenging even as they got older,” Jermier reflected. “I think we delivered with these new parks.”

Spring Crest Park is currently five acres of open space, multi-zone playground and trails at 1195 Spruce Street. A standout feature of this playground is the hillside playscape with long slides and fun climbs. It’s partnered with other play zones to suit a range of ages and abilities. In the future, the park will expand to a total of 13 acres with a sand volleyball court, pickleball courts, half basketball court, rental pavilion, parking lot and additional trails to connect the two areas. For now, visitors can park on the street and walk into the park from the bike trail that connects to the street.

Painted Woods West Park is located at 950 Indian Ridge Drive. The 8.5-acre park has a unique treehouse themed playground, half basketball court, pickleball court and trails. Some of the treehouse structures reach 16 feet high. Inclusive features enable children of varying abilities to play together. A small in-ground trampoline can accommodate mobility aids, and a bowl swing at transfer height will enable wheelchair users to play outside their chair.