Upper Arlington Shows New Fancyburg Park Playground Plans
Renderings for the replacement playground are posted, and the city wants feedback before the design is locked. Status: Survey open through Oct. 25; construction set for early 2027.
Families who use Fancyburg Park can now see what its next playground will look like. Upper Arlington posted a set of renderings on October 8 and opened a short online survey on the design, which closes Sunday, October 25. Construction is on track to begin early in 2027.
The drawings, split into three slide sets on the Fancyburg project page, show separate play zones for kids ages 2 to 5 and 5 to 12. The city says the design follows what residents asked for during two rounds of planning: a natural look that blends with the trees and offers plenty of shade, durable steel and fabric structures, inclusive and accessible features, and a mix of swings, slides, climbers and themed play pieces.
The bigger picture is in the park master plan that council backed last fall. Prepared by EDGE, a Columbus landscape architecture firm, it lists the playground, shelter, shuffleboard courts and maintenance yard as nearing the end of their service life. The plan grows the playground from about 9,900 to 10,400 square feet, doubles the swings from four to eight and sets it beside an expanded nature play area. Other pieces include a four-season shelter with restrooms and a prep kitchen that could host day camp, three tennis courts and four pickleball courts, and a parking lot that grows from 49 spaces to 88. Funding sits in the 2027 and 2028 parks capital budgets, with Fancyburg next in line after the Northam Park and Devon Pool work.
The survey is the last easy chance to weigh in on equipment before the design is finished. Questions go to Upper Arlington Parks and Recreation at the Bob Crane Community Center, 614-583-5300.
For neighbors around Swansea, Kioka and Wickliffe, the city timeline puts construction in 2027, so the existing playground is the one in use for now. Until then, our ranking of outdoor activities for toddlers and the rainy day with kids guide have more places to burn off energy. The same city is also weighing open-container zones, covered in our Tremont Center DORA story, and more suburb news is on our Upper Arlington page.
