The City of Morris held a public meeting Wednesday night outlining what their application for a $600,000 Open Space Land Acquisition Development grant will look like.

Stan Knudson, the city’s community affairs director, said the plan would update the pickleball and basketball courts to have a higher quality asphalt and design. He said the finish will have a softer feel to it that’s easier on both people’s joints and their equipment.

Knudson also said the playground equipment would move to to the northwest portion of the park with new equipment for two-to-five year olds and for five-to-12 year olds.

“We’ll also have some interactive, musical kind of equipment, similar to West Side Park,” Knudson said. “That’s for sensory challenged children.”

He said the idea is to have something for everyone, and handicap accessibility has been a big driver behind the recent park renovations. The playground is proposed to have the same rubber ground used in Goodwill and West Side Parks, which makes it more accessible for wheelchairs, walkers and strollers.

Other improvements proposed include a resurfaced trail around the pond, a new 12x20 foot pavilion near the playground equipment, new walkways to all the park’s features, benches around the walking park, outcropping fishing stations with steps to prevent people from having to climb down slopes, and native plants on the western edge of the pond.

Open Space Land Acquisition Development grant applications are due at the end of September, and these grants also require a match. The City of Morris will be responsible for paying $600,000 worth of the project as well, bringing the total to $1.2 million. Knudson said the city could go beyond that, too.

“We’re exploring the idea of putting in a fishing pier with a gazebo that would make even fishing ADA accessible, because you could take a wheelchair, walker, things like that, onto the pier and gazebo,” Knudson said.