ESCANABA — Four of Escanaba’s community parks will get an upgrade next year, thanks to a grant the city recently received from playground manufacturer GameTime, as well as a donation from the Escanaba Rotary.

“We already knew that many of our local neighborhood parks needed to be replaced within the next five years. After having them evaluated, we knew for sure, yes these need to be replaced probably sooner rather than later,” said City Manager Jim McNeil.

The GameTime grant, which will cover the bulk for the projects, was scalable, meaning that a large-scale project could receive as much as a one-to-one match while smaller projects would require more financial investment from the city.

Initially, there were discussions about applying for the grant for Harbor Hideout in Ludington Park, however the city felt a significant amount of public input would be needed to revamp or replace the existing structure that was put in as a community project in 1993.

Instead, the city approached the manufacturer to see if it would be possible to apply for a single grant that would cover renovations at a number of playgrounds throughout the city. GameTime approved a one-to-one match grant that includes new playgrounds at Royce, Veterans, Stephenson, and Sylvan Point Park.

Very little, if any, of the existing structures at these parks will remain after the new equipment is installed. The existing equipment does not meet current safety standards, either due to changes in design requirements or wear and tear damage. However, some of the parks may maintain equipment located adjacent to the playground structures, such as swing sets.

The replacement of the playgrounds was not included in the city’s current fiscal year budget, but the city felt that the grant was a good opportunity to replace the aging equipment. It was also noted Thursday that costs would likely go up in the future due to inflation, that shipping costs were lower than other options because the playgrounds were made in America and not over seas, and that the warranty on the equipment was better than other options explored.

When it came to a vote, the council unanimously approved spending $127,894.20 as its portion of the project. This was in addition to the $15,000 Rotary had donated for renovations at Silvan Point Park.

All four playgrounds are expected to be installed next year.

Separately, Rose Park is slated for an upgrade funded through a grant from the DTE Foundation. The total match for that project has not been determined, but the project is expected to cost the city around $25,000.

That leaves just the Westside Park playground, maintenance and repair of the rubber coating at Besse Park, and improvements at the small playground located near the beach house. The city is still exploring how those projects will be funded.