Overview

The Tecolote Shores South playground opened to the public in December 2023 and is the first playground of its kind in the San Diego Park System to accommodate people with disabilities. Phase 1 of the Tecolote Park improvement included upgrades to the Tecolote Shores North playground and was completed in November 2022. Both play areas replaced more than a hundred thousand square feet of dated facilities with modern equipment and practical upgrades, including SpectraPour Supreme playground surfacing.

Key Challenges and Solutions

The playground improvements at Tecolote Shores represent a rebirth of play, fitness, and community-building in Mission Bay. The Tecolote North playground draws its inspiration from the thousands of kites that fly on the lawn adjacent to it each year. This playground includes two age-specific play areas, an outdoor fitness area, and the City of San Diego’s first designated slack line area. 

The Tecolote South playground draws its inspiration from the adjacent Tecolote Creek, which flows into the bay and features a play and fitness area that is all-inclusive. This playground’s signature element is a raised, planted play mound in the center of the space. The mound provides accessible pathways for children of all abilities to access the tallest points of each play structure. Other accessible equipment includes a merry-go-round, rockers, swings, and zipline. 

Parents can relax while their children play on either playground, because both areas feature SpectraPour Supreme, the preferred playground surface system for critical fall areas. SpectraPour Supreme is a high-density rubber surface that is mixed on site. This system is unique, because it uses a high-density, smaller particle size in the top layer combined with a high-quality UV stable aliphatic binder that goes over top a shock-absorbing rubber base pad. The result is a playground surface that is safe and ADA accessible, in addition to providing durability and decreased overall maintenance costs.