Kids in Taylor will soon have an exciting new way to take in the scenery at Bull Branch Park.
At the Sept. 14 regular meeting, the Taylor City Council unanimously approved a bid in the amount of $230,000 to Whirlix Design Inc. to put in a “Tree Tops” concept playscape with a zip line to replace the previous playground that had been removed last spring after the Parks and Recreation Department had deemed it unsafe.
“It kind of has a nature theme and it fits really well with Bull Branch and all the trees,” said Parks and Recreation Director Tyler Bybee at the meeting. “The original plan I took to them (the Parks and Recreation Board of Trustees), and they said, ‘We need more swings. We need something else,’ so I brought them back another concept with a zip line, which will be the first of its kind in our parks system and they approved that final concept in May of 2023.”
Bybee said this project will expand the playground’s original footprint on its north end and will take nearly a year to install.
“It does have quite a long lead time, which I think is the case for any playground requiring a six-month lead time from when we order it,” he said. “We are still looking at late spring or early summer, so hopefully we will have this thing in by when school gets out next year.”
Bybee said the previous playground, which was donated by the T. Don Hutto Detention Center 15 years ago, had several flaws that made it unsafe.
“In 2022 we started noticing some major structural flaws, cracking in the platforms and slides,” Bybee said. “And normally you can go out and find a replacement part, but the company that made that playground didn’t exist anymore, so you couldn’t just get someone to make those parts.”
Bybee said he has had good experiences with Whirlix throughout his career.
“Whirlix is a rep of Landscape Structures, which is one of the premier manufacturers and installers in the nation,” Bybee said. “I have had quite a few of those projects and products in my previous jobs and they are known to last, are minimal on maintenance and the parts are easily replaced.”
Other key features of the playscape will include an imaginary forest of tree-like climbing structures, with a rope belt climber, a leaf climber vertical ladder, bell ringing panels, an animal footprint tracker a double slide, a swing set and more.
“In addition to the treetops concept, we added the zip line, which is 34 feet in length, so that is the length of the track, and then you have two belt seats, (including) a full bucket seat for toddlers,” said Josh Bailey, the business design manager for Whirlix. “The logs are made with glass fiber reinforced concrete for kids to crawl through. There will be a few mushroom steppers, and a GFRC balance beam, which is like a log balance beam. So it’s just trying to pull off those nature themes from the park.”
District 1 Councilman and Mayor Pro Tem Gerald Anderson, who chaired the meeting in Mayor Brandt Rydell’s absence, as well as several residents who spoke about the programs for senior citizens, expressed their appreciation for the Parks and Recreation Department during the meeting.
“Tyler, you and your staff have been doing a wonderful job,” Anderson said. “I have been getting a lot of compliments about the summertime program especially for the kids that’s never been offered in Taylor, so thank you.”
