Lehi staff ‘disheartened’ by reaction to new playground after slew of break-ins; vandalism

LEHI — A new, highly anticipated Lehi playground opened just 10 days ago and has already faced controversy with a slew of break-ins.

Someone cut the locks on the gates twice on one day when the park was supposed to be closed. Both times, the people who flooded into the park were asked to leave.

Parkgoers kicked out by police voiced their frustrations over the fact that online sites posted misinformation over the hours of operation. However, the city had been clear about the park’s closure.

“If my kids are that excited to get out of their seat to get to a park, I’m going there,” said Tecky Fahina.

She said her kids can barely handle their excitement, claiming, “the moment we pull into this parking lot, they’re trying to unbuckle themselves.”

The cutting-edge playground in Lehi has different equipment that caters to all kinds of children.

“Each play structure has an age group,” Fahina said.

She was disappointed to hear about park vandals breaking and entering.

“It’s unfortunate because it’s like, this is for a community, not just for personal use,” she said, “it sucks.”

On Sunday, some parents who had been kicked out of the closed playground criticized Lehi officials for not being clear enough about its hours of operation after claiming to see it was open on Google.

“We’ve had a lot of claims saying that,” said Stephen Marchbanks, the director of Lehi’s Parks and Facilities. “Unfortunately, we don’t run Google.”

Lehi’s Parks department says the city has been clear on its website and social media pages about why the playground was temporarily closed the last two Sundays. In posts dated before the park opened on Sept. 14, the city warned that the playground would be temporarily closed the following two Sundays due to staffing shortages.

The city’s budget constraints only allow for staff to be granted overtime for important projects, not to monitor parks.

“It was chained shut. Bolted shut,” Marchbanks said about the park’s closure. “Yeah, I think we were clear.”

Yet just one day after opening, on Sunday, Sept. 15, it was broken into, requiring staff to work overtime to monitor the park.

“This is one of the parks that I put my heart and soul into. This is one that I’m very proud of,” Marchbanks said, “to see it just getting wrecked by blatant disregard is very hard to me.”

Marchbanks said the park must be staffed to keep people safe, so a city council meeting will be held on Tuesday evening to decide its official hours of operation.

“We’re not trying to police people. We’re not trying to tell them not to have a good time,” he said.

Fahina said she hopes other park enjoyers will be more patient in the future so everyone can continue to enjoy the park.

“I hope they are just mindful of the community instead of themselves,” she said.

To see the park’s hours of operation, go to the city’s website directly. Do not use Google as a resource.