This southeast Des Moines park will have the city's first multi-court pickleball facility
Four pickleball courts, a new sprayground and a mini-pitch futsal court are among the amenities in store for Stone Park on Des Moines' southeast side.
The Des Moines City Council voted Monday to move forward on plans and construction agreements with Caliber Concrete, LLC, for the park improvements, estimated at $2.1 million.
The nearly 16-acre Indianola Hills neighborhood park, acquired in 1925, features an open lawn, a basketball court, a playground, an open-air shelter, a community garden and Pioneer Park Community Recreation Center, according to the city. Stone Park and Pioneer Columbus Community Recreation Center serve an estimated 2,996 Des Moines residents who live within a 10-minute walking distance.
The four pickleball courts coming to the park at 2100 S.E. Fifth St. will be Des Moines' first multi-court pickleball facility. EMC Downtown Park has one pickleball court. The council accepted a $581,000 donation in October from the Mary K. and Daniel M. Kelly Family Foundation toward the estimated $1.7 million courts, according to a city council communications memo.
Kick It Forward, a nonprofit organization aimed at making soccer more accessible for Iowa youth, provided some of the funding for Stone Park's futsal mini-pitch system. Futsal is a soccer-like game played on a hard surface that is smaller than a normal pitch. The court will be one of four, also planned for Tower, Chesterfield and Evergreen parks.
"A lot of thank yous to a lot of different departments," said council member Joe Gatto at Monday's City Council meeting. "And then, to the Kelly Family for the $500,000 donation. This is an amazing project for that area."
Other Stone Park updates include:
Basketball court rehabilitation
New sprayground
Playground equipment
Open-air shelter
Sidewalk
Construction of this project is anticipated to be completed in spring 2025, the memo says.
Also on Monday, the council approved spending more than $162,000 to replace ballistic helmets and body shields used by the statewide bomb detection teams. It also voted to demolish a century-old Victorian home considered a historic landmark after it was declared a public nuisance.
Council approved new equipment for Iowa's bomb detection teams
The City Council approved spending more than $162,000 to buy 51 ballistic helmets and protective body panels for the statewide Explosive Ordnance Detection task force teams, according to a council communications memo.
The state's seven EOD teams in Des Moines, Cedar Rapids, Waterloo, Johnson and Pottawattamie counties, the Quad Cities and the Iowa State Fire Marshal are trained to detect, disarm, and dispose of explosive threats, according to Des Moines Police Department spokesperson Sgt. Paul Parizek.
The ballistic equipment, which will be purchased from Minnesota-based Streicher’s Law Enforcement and Public Safety Equipment, must be worn during any response to protect from possible airborne debris or gunfire, according to the memo. Bomb technicians handling an explosive device must wear a more "extensive protective suit" because of their proximity to the device.
According to the memo, the teams' current protective equipment will reach the end of its recommended five-year lifespan in 2024.
The new helmets will include a rail system that allows the use of hands-free communication equipment. Each team member will be measured ahead of the purchase to make sure the equipment fits.
Historic Queen Anne house in King Irving neighborhood slated for demolition
A two-and-a-half-story Victorian home in the King Irving neighborhood is slated for demolition.
Council members voted to approve the owner's request for the Edward B. & Nettie E. Evans House at 1410 19th St. to be demolished instead of asking the city's Landmark Review Board to explore alternatives.
The house, built circa 1900, once housed the family of Edward Baker Evans, an Iowa native who served as the first Secretary of the Drake College of Law and eventually became the second Dean of Drake College from 1907 to 1918, according to a council communications memo. Evans also served as the Registrar of the Government Land Office in Iowa.
The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2002 and is known as one of the "best-surviving examples" of a Free Classic Queen Anne residence in Des Moines. The house features asymmetrical form, complex roof treatment, full-width and recessed porches, and contrasting shingle patterning, all hallmarks of the Queen Anne style.
The property was declared a public nuisance in 2018 and a judge ordered its demolition in September of 2023, the memo says. The previous owner appealed the order in October and then sold the property to the current owner, MT Home Services LLC. Following a review, the latest owner determined the structure should be demolished.
Because of the building's historic significance, the owner is required to salvage for reuse as many fixtures and materials as possible from the building, according to the memo.
On Monday night, council member Chris Coleman said he assumed he would be against the demolition "because I love these old historical houses," but he said he appreciated the city's report which laid out the complications and the difficulty of reinvesting in the property.
"I think, unfortunately, it's time for the house to be removed," Coleman said.
Virginia Barreda is the Des Moines city government reporter for the Register. She can be reached at vbarreda@dmreg.com. Follow her on Twitter at @vbarreda2.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Stone Park will have the city's first multi-court pickleball facility
