The airplane at Costa Mesa’s Lions Park has returned to flight (at least in kids’ imaginations), the rest of the playground has also been upgraded, and it all sits next to a refurbished community center named for the city’s first woman council member and mayor.
City leaders recently celebrated the completion of a $36.5 million project that included building a new Donald Dungan Library (it opened in 2019), turning the old library into a new community center and fixing up the adjacent Lions Park playground.
The community center would have been ready to open last year, Mayor John Stephens said, but officials held off until the pandemic was more under control so they could have a proper ribbon cutting and invite the public.
The renovations “transformed that library into something special,” with a community meeting space big enough and grand enough that the State of the City event may be held there in 2022, Stephens said.
The community center is named for Norma Hertzog, the first woman to serve on Costa Mesa’s City Council and as mayor. Stephens said Hertzog, who was first elected in the late 1970s, has since moved to the East Coast but joined in online as city officials and residents celebrated the completion of the Lions Park projects on Saturday, July 17.
This is Costa Mesa’s first city building to be named for a woman, Stephens noted.
City leaders got community feedback, including from children, on how to fix up the playground – besides the beloved airplane, it has a zip line-type ride, a climbing structure, slides and a sand play area. Stephens said 225 trees also were planted at the park as part of the upgrades.
This post first appeared on ocregister.com
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