Tuesday, September 17, 2024
The city of Clintonville approved contributing $50,000 to a project that will install an all-inclusive playground at W.A. Olen Park.
The Clintonville Common Council voted to help purchase equipment for the playground when it met Aug. 13. The funds will come from the city’s capital fund.
The details of the all-inclusive playground were discussed at the Aug. 12 Clintonville Finance Committee meeting.
At that meeting, Public Works Director Justin Mc Auly, said the council had previously approved $50,000 to be used for an all-inclusive playground at W.A. Olen Park. He added that the city has been working with Down with Mylestones, a local non-profit group, which has also been fundraising for the project.
Mc Auly told the committee that he was looking for approval for the concept of an all-inclusive park, as well as approval to use the $50,000 that was previously approved by the council. The $50,000 would come from the city’s capital fund and be put toward the cost of playground equipment.
“The equipment is going to roughly be around $138,000, I believe,” Mc Auly said.
After applying the $50,000 from the city, the remaining balance has been raised by Down with Mylestones, Mc Auly said.
With the commitment of $50,000 from the city, Mc Auly said he was told that Down with Mylestones would be able to secure an $81,751 voucher from Commercial Recreation Specialists towards the equipment costs. Without that voucher, the cost for the playground equipment would be just under $220,000.
“They have this opportunity to apply for this extra funding to reduce the cost of the equipment,” Mc Auly said. “They want to buy the equipment this year and store it over the winter. And then they want to do phase 1, and keep doing phases until they get the funding done.”
Phase 1, planned for next spring or summer, would most likely be the installation of a climbing structure in the mulch bed area. Phase 2 would be the addition of a surface area with the ADA playground equipment. A potential phase 3 would include a sidewalk around the entire playground structure so it would be accessible. Phase 3 is not included in the cost of the current project, Mc Auly said.
“This can give you the ability for, let’s say there’s an individual with a disability in the family, they can actually be near their other siblings, and not have to be on the other end, so you’d have that accessible path around the whole thing,” Mc Auly said.
Committee member Greg Rose asked Mc Auly what the plan would be for the merry-go-round and the jungle gym that are currently in the park.
Mc Auly said a lot of similar items have been phased out of city parks due to safety.
“Those types of merry-go-rounds you don’t see around too often anymore,” Mc Auly said. “That particular one is probably over 60 years old. I’m not looking at getting rid of it, but if there is a safety concern and our insurance company is not going to cover liability, then I would entertain getting that removed from that site.”
Mc Auly said he plans to contact the city’s insurance company about that.
Not seeing any issues with the merry-go-round, Mc Auly said best case scenario, the city might move it, but keep it within the play area.
“That’s what I was hoping to hear,” Rose said, adding, “I’m all for all-inclusive playground equipment and everything, but we also have to keep in mind all of the non-disabled children that are going to be using this facility, and those two pieces of equipment get a lot of heavy use.”
Mc Auly said it is difficult to find parts for the merry-go-round and jungle gym because they are so old.
“If we happen to have any parts break on those particular playground sets, I think we’re going to be out of luck,” Mc Auly said.
