FAIRMONT – At the first Fairmont Park Board meeting of the year on Tuesday, a resident asked for improvements to Eastside Park.

Behind Hy-Vee at 1310 Budd Street stands East Side Park. Sarah Unke said she lives in a house next to the park and saw the changes made to the park’s landscape.

“Because of all the Ash trees taken out, the previous cage backstop was removed along with some other equipment for safety reasons,” she said.

A new playground set was put in afterward. Unke said that has been a welcome change enjoyed by the 30 to 40 daycare children in the area. However, it is geared toward younger children. The lack of a corner fence backstop has stopped older kids from playing kickball, baseball and other diamond-based games.

“The older kids love that backstop,” Unke said. “It got utilized for many years, a lot of the families used that there.”

With that in mind, Unke laid out what they’re hoping to do at East Side.

“We were thinking about if we had that cage stop placed back on,” she said. “Along that side, because it is so open, some flower beds dug up. Between several of us in the neighborhood, we have agreed that we would take care of watering it. It’s an activity for us, as well as maybe the other neighborhood families and daycare kids to participate in as well.”

Board Member Jodie Whitmore asked if they wanted the city to plant the flowers and the residents to maintain them. Unke said that was correct.

On a regular basis Unke said she sees kids out and about. Because of this, she said creating a neighborhood where they can play is a priority.

“They’re like in their bikes, scooters and little cars zooming around,” Unke said. “We want to create a neighborhood where there’s different options they can utilize outside.”

Whitmore asked what kind of backstop Unke was referring to. Public Works Superintendent Nick Lardy said it’s a large curved fence they use for local baseball fields. Whitmore said she’s unsure how the arrangement would work, but thinks it’s a great idea to mull over.

In other news:

— Lardy said it was a busy winter for taking down Ash trees susceptible to Emerald Ash Borer. He said overall they have taken down 2,028 trees. There are 250 trees left on the boulevards and 200 in the parks. Whitmore said even with all the trees taken out, she hasn’t noticed a big change in how the parks look.

— With the weather warming up, Lardy said they have been able to place all 19 city docks. They had placed two main docks before the weather got cold and rainy and met their goal of placing all their docks before the end of the month.

— For 2025, Lardy said the biggest projects will be working on the bandshell for its Centennial and putting in new features at the skate park. He said the current rails and ramps are getting up in age and ready for replacement.