Encinitas' Wiro Park playground, a tree-shaded fixture in Olivenhain since 1992, is one City Council vote away from a nature-themed overhaul.

The Encinitas Parks and Recreation Commission on Tuesday, Aug. 18, recommended the council approve a new design for the one-acre park at 2232 El Camino Del Norte, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported. The vote caps a three-year process marked by neighborhood pushback, a "Save our Swings" campaign and extra outreach ordered by the council itself.

The approved design features four swings: two standard belt-style and two toddler bucket swings. A woodsy play structure includes solid roofs, two towers, two slides, a climbing wall, interactive panels including tic-tac-toe, an imaginary playhouse, cloverleaf climbers and giant acorn steppers. Rubber surfacing will replace the existing sand.

Jeremy Franzini, a landscape architect with Michael Baker International, described the structure as natural-colored with leaf and caterpillar steppers that fit the nature theme, according to the Union-Tribune.

The project is funded largely by a grant from the California State Parks Office of Grants and Local Services. The city's Park Improvement Fund will cover remaining costs.

How the swings were saved

Swings nearly disappeared from the plan. Safety-zone requirements meant fitting them in came at the expense of most surrounding play elements, according to Carlos Baldenegro, project manager and senior engineer with the city.

Residents organized under the banner "Save our Swings," pushing for both belt-style and bucket swings. Only three people attended an initial neighborhood meeting on Dec. 12, 2024, at City Hall's Poinsettia Room. The city had mailed notices to property owners within 500 feet of the park.

The design went to City Council on April 22, but council members directed staff to conduct more outreach after hearing concerns from homeowner associations that help pay for the park's maintenance. The city doubled its notification radius to 1,000 feet, and 10 residents attended a second community input meeting on May 28.

Resident Kristi Clark organized a neighborhood email chain ahead of that meeting. Neighbor Jill Candelaria, who has lived next door to the park for more than 30 years, submitted feedback ahead of the May 28 session. "The kids on the playground are either on the swings or digging in the sand 90% of the time," she wrote in a city report on the meeting.

After the May 28 meeting, designers moved the swings back to their original spot on the north side and added more play elements.

What's next

"This looks fantastic and I'm really happy to see that we've got a lot of community input from the neighbors there," Parks Commission Chair Georg Capielo said at the Aug. 18 meeting.

City documents list September 2026 as the target for City Council approval, though no specific meeting date has been set. If approved, bid award and construction would begin around December 2026, with the playground closed for about three months and the full project lasting five to six months. Completion is estimated for May 2027.