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CEDAR HILLS — A popular Cedar Hills park is infested with an unwanted guest — wasps.
The problem is so bad that the city has shut down a couple of areas so a pest control company can spray to get rid of the insects.
Harvey Park, located at 4301 W. Harvey Blvd., isn't just your run-of-the-mill city park. It's complete with tennis and pickleball courts, a splash pad and playground, basketball courts, even a snow cone shop.
Chandler Goodwin is the Cedar Hills city manager. He says the park is inviting by design and he's not going to let wasps ruin the fun.
"They hurt and they can sting you multiple times and they don't let up, and they're just mean," Goodwin said. "So, yeah, we wanna get rid of them."
When the exterminators showed up, they found 30 nests on the playground alone. Goodwin said they closed the area to make sure nobody gets hurt.
"We were concerned with how angry the yellow jackets and wasps would be and having kids climbing up near their nests, they might have that agitation," said Goodwin. "So just to separate the two, we decided to close the playground for the night."
As exterminators searched the area, they found more nests in the fences and pipes near a couple of the tennis courts.
Rachel Bertin brought her kids to the playground Wednesday night only to find it closed but she wasn't surprised. She lives nearby and said she's had pest control come out six times this summer. Once usually does the trick.
"We have wasps like inside of our fence posts," said Bertin. "Even like our Ring camera constantly keeps getting set off because of wasps flying by."
City officials say in years to come, they will likely set up a maintenance program to avoid closing the park, even for a night.
Antex, the pest control company taking care of the wasps, said workers will be back Thursday morning. It has been slammed this summer, dealing with the pests.
You can check the status of the park on the Cedar Hills website.
