Logan’s Oasis playground project at Marilla Park cleared its final hurdle as the Streator City Council voted to approve a $199,580 contract for installation during their meeting this week.

The playground has been in the works for almost two years now and spearheaded by Melissa Crank and family members in memory of her late son, Logan Crank. Throughout the entire process, the playground has had plans to be an inclusive, ADA-accessible space where children of all abilities can play.

The council had talked previously about the project, but this vote made the installation official. Before voting, councilman David Reed and Scott Scheuer made sure to congratulate Melissa and her family for getting this far.

“I want to congratulate Melissa for all your hard work,” Reed said. “I love when a citizen sees a void in the community and instead of saying somebody ought to do this or somebody ought to do that, but she stepped up and said, ‘I want to do this.’ She headed up the project.”

However, they said they had a bit of “sticker shock,” particularly over the roughly $103,000 portion of the contract dedicated to the poured-in-place rubber surface. Reed noted he thought the project’s price had grown from earlier expectations of little to no cost to the city.

City manager David Plyman explained the rubber surface was chosen because Marilla Park sits in a floodplain and mulch could wash away, requiring later costs. He also mentioned that mulch can create accessibility concerns for the wheelchair community expected to use the playground.

After addressing the initial concerns, both Reed and Scheuer were completely on board with the price. And as the discussion wound down, Scheuer said he was reminded of advice he once received when first taking office.

“When I took my seat here, someone told me one of the issues Streator has had is that we have really good intentions - we want these good things and want to do well for the residents here - and then at the last minute we pull back and only fund 80% when we should have gone 100%,” Scheuer said. “I really took that to heart, and I’ll remember that for a long time. I think I’m going to go ahead and apply that advice to my vote on this.”

Council members ultimately voted unanimously to approve the full contract, with installation expected to start in a few weeks when the ground thaws.

Melissa Crank said her family is planning a ribbon-cutting ceremony once they get a better idea of when the playground will officially open.

“It’s going to be amazing,” Crank said. “Logan would be so proud.”