Glenn Heights wants help designing inclusive park for kids with disabilities

GLENN HEIGHTS, Texas - The city of Glenn Heights is creating an inclusive playground for people of all abilities.

Make-A-Wish Foundation is teaming up with the community to make it happen. It'll be the first of its kind in the southern part of Dallas County.

Renderings show what it could look like when finished. But Glenn Heights and Make-A-Wish want your input on the design by this Thursday. 

The new community park will sit on five acres with an amphitheater and two and a half acres of play apparatus, building happiness for critical ill kids or those with disabilities.

"We were struck by the fact that there were children who couldn’t enjoy a sense of elevation or didn't have apparatus that was designed just for them," said Glenn Heights City Manager David Hall. "And we want to eliminate those barriers and those challenges and create an environment that's inclusive for everyone."

"So exciting. This is actually the first park that Make-A-Wish has ever partnered on for an all-abilities park that’s gonna be open to the public," said Nicole Conway with Make-A-Wish North Texas. 

While it's Make-A-Wish’s first park partnership, it's also the first all-abilities park south of I-30.

"Having a space where we can easily host Wish celebrations, meet with Wish families, invite them to play and just feel a part of the Make-A-Wish community right here in Glenn Heights means so much," Conway said.

There are about 20 all-abilities parks across Dallas and Fort Worth, including at Flag Pole Hill where Julia Hodges brings her grandkids.

"We don’t have these in my area, so I drive 25 minutes to come with by grandbabies over here," she explained. "You see all kinds of special kids. You see those chairs over there. The swings, the green ones, they're perfect for disability kids."

At the city's website www.glennheightstx.gov, parents can help choose what goes in the park.

"They have the opportunity to go on and pick what would be meaningful or purposeful for them," Conway said.

"It's gonna completely change the way this site looks but also the opportunities that are available for the community," Hall said.

The city has a survey to give your responses so they can make this park your park.