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Renovated community center, playground at Costa Mesas Lions Park are back in action

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.

  • Kids play on the swings at Lions Park in Costa Mesa, CA on Monday, July 19, 2021. The playground also includes a zip line-type ride, slides and a sand play area. (Photo by Paul Bersebach, Orange County Register/SCNG)

  • Kids play around an airplane on the playground at Lions Park in Costa Mesa, CA on Monday, July 19, 2021. The playground also includes a zip line-type ride, slides and a sand play area. (Photo by Paul Bersebach, Orange County Register/SCNG)

  • Emily Camarillo and her sister Melissa, 3, swing together at Lions Park in Costa Mesa, CA on Monday, July 19, 2021. The playground also includes a zip line-type ride, slides and a sand play area. (Photo by Paul Bersebach, Orange County Register/SCNG)

  • Kids play on one of several structures at Lions Park in Costa Mesa, CA on Monday, July 19, 2021. The playground also includes a zip line-type ride, slides and a sand play area. (Photo by Paul Bersebach, Orange County Register/SCNG)

  • The Norma Hertzog Community Center at Lions Park in Costa Mesa, CA was recently renovated along with the playground. (Photo by Paul Bersebach, Orange County Register/SCNG)

  • Kids play on one of several structures at Lions Park in Costa Mesa, CA on Monday, July 19, 2021. The playground also includes a zip line-type ride, slides and a sand play area. (Photo by Paul Bersebach, Orange County Register/SCNG)

  • The playground and community center was recently upgraded at Lions Park in Costa Mesa, CA. (Photo by Paul Bersebach, Orange County Register/SCNG)

  • Jullien Garcia, 4, plays in a sand area at Lions Park in Costa Mesa, CA on Monday, July 19, 2021. The playground also includes a zip line-type ride, slides and climbing structures. (Photo by Paul Bersebach, Orange County Register/SCNG)

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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