OSAGE BEACH, Mo. — Construction has begun, with plans for a new playground and splash pad at Osage Beach’s Peanick Park on Highway 42. However, the city’s plan to remove the small baseball field at the front of the park to make way for the playground and splash pad caught was an unpleasant surprise for some.

🚨Exciting changes ahead for Peanick Park! ⚾🛝

2026 is a busy year for the Parks Department! The new playground is just the first phase of coming improvements to Peanick, with more coming through the year.

This week we say goodbye to a baseball field that’s seen decades of play. So many memories were made here and we’re grateful for every practice, inning, dropped ball and home run.

We’re also very excited for what’s ahead! This space will soon become home to new park amenities that will bring our community even more ways to gather, play, and enjoy Peanick Park.

Here’s to honoring our past while building something brand new and laying the groundwork for what’s to come in Peanick Park!

🛝The best memories are just waiting to be made! 💙💛💙

Not everyone seemed to think the changes were exciting, and — from the reaction in the comments to that and subsequent posts — many community members were surprised and disappointed by the decision to tear-out the old ballfield.

In an interview with LakeExpo, Mayor Michael Harmison — an avid baseball fan — agreed the City could have handled communications better, pointing out what the Facebook post did not include was a rendering and explanation of the large playground and splash pad the City would be installing where the ballfield once stood.

The proposal for that playground and splash pad had been met with excitement in the community, with the City putting out a survey to the public, offering three different playground design options and opting for the one that got the most votes. However, it appears many people assumed the design could fit at Peanick Park without impacting the ball field.

Harmison says the City still plans to continue its recreational youth baseball/softball programs next year, utilizing the three fields at City Park as well as the lower field (Field 2) at Peanick Park. He says the City chose to demolish Field 1 at Peanick Park because its 200-foot fence depth made it the least useful for youth baseball, making it suitable mostly as a practice field or only for t-ball/coach pitch games. The t-ball and coach pitch programs will be moved to Field 2 in 2026, he said, with no impact to those programs.

However, some local coaches say they already have a tough time reserving one of the city’s five fields during the busy spring baseball/softball season, and they worry this will only make it worse.

Harmison says the City’s 2023 Parks Master Plan did include the demolition of Peanick. That plan was approved by the City Board of Aldermen and was based on community input.

On March 11, 2024, LakeExpo reported on the City’s plan to develop the new playground where the upper ball field currently stood. However, the community was still clearly caught off-guard.

Three longtime youth baseball coaches — Paul Dulle, Kevin Meglan, and Brock Heerdt — said they were surprised when the City began removing the fencing around Field 1 earlier this month.

“This is honestly the first I heard of this,” Dulle said.

Meglan added that he had heard of a plan to demolish one or both fields at Peanick, but he never heard that anything had been finalized.

“I think it’s an awful decision,” said Heerdt, who manages LOZ Sports Training — a youth sports training facility just a few homeruns away from Peanick Park. “It’s going to hurt a lot. Would I love to see a bigger better park for my kids somewhere? Of course! But not at the expense of a field that is in constant use.”

The work at Peanick Park is part of a three-phase plan.

Phase 1 – New Playground

• Approved & equipment arrives mid-December

• Installation begins soon after

• Park staff prepping the site now

Phase 2 – New Pavilion

• Approved & scheduled to begin in January

• Will provide shaded gathering and event space

Phase 3 – Splash Pad & Parking Expansion (2027)

• Medium-sized splash pad planned

• Additional parking

• Pending Board approval & funding

The City has given significant attention to its park and public recreation facilities this year, having made the following improvements at City Park — the other, larger park owned and operated by Osage Beach:

• Work began on the new Hatchery Ridge Trail in November (completion expected in spring 2026)

• Dragon Hatchery Disc Golf Course completed

• Sand volleyball courts reopened

• Watercraft rental & batting cages were added