Moratorium Affects Dickinson Playground Plans

By Kendra Bobowick

Some of the playground equipment at Dickinson Park could be removed as soon as this week due to damage or disrepair, said Parks and Recreation Director Amy Mangold.

If not for a recent moratorium on town bonding for most projects, which affects capital projects spending, funding for a new playground would have come just in time. “I would have been excited to say we’ll have something new,” said Ms Mangold. The Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) in the year 2013 included $420,000 for playground equipment, but despite the playground’s age and condition, she and other town departments must wait.

While the CIP is still intact, the finance board recently approved a moratorium on most bonding. Current CIP projects slated for Dickinson, among other town projects, will be pushed out into future borrowing cycles, or rescoped.

Meanwhile, things are starting to break down at the playground, also known as FunSpace, she said. With the swing set in mind, Ms Mangold said, “Pieces of it are beyond repair,” adding, “We have to be able to meet safety standards, so we will have to remove swings at this time.” She was still adjusting to the news Wednesday morning that “we cannot repair” some of the equipment. Portions of the wood are deteriorated, placing the town at a liability if anyone gets hurt, she said.

New plans were “right here,” but the upgrades for the playground — part of an overall master plan to revamp the park — is now pushed out.

“We are glad the playground has lasted as long as it has, but it’s about 21 years old and pieces that we can’t repair we have to just take down,” Ms Mangold said. She fears that the play value of the FunSpace playground has suffered because “little by little we have had to remove elements, which takes away from the excitement and fun.”

Thinking ahead to plans for a playground and park improvements, she said, “A lot of people have sentimental attachment to FunSpace and we wanted to keep that character, but wanted something new.” She hopes an updated space will “connect children more with nature.” She also hopes to better integrate the play space into the general park atmosphere, “and create a connectivity from the park and pavilion area.”

The recreation commission “wanted to expand play value,” Ms Mangold said. Noting that “children love to play by the river and the stream, they love to play outdoors,” she said a new playground would prompt “a lot of imagination.”

She said, “It’s a nature-inspired play structure meant to blend with park beauty.” It will be built with safety, durability, and age appropriateness, and a balance between natural and manufactured materials in mind.

Regarding both the playground and the park, she said, “We want to engage the body and the mind; we want people enjoying nature and being creative and engaged in activity. Mother Nature misses people and wants them to enjoy the character of Dickinson Park.”

Landscape Designer Billie Cohen “understands that vision,” she said. Despite the moratorium, Ms Mangold has renderings in hand of what the park and play area could be in the future.

Plans On Hold

Last month she held in her hands colorful drawing of what Dickinson Park might look like once phases of upgrades, starting with the playground, are complete. Ms Mangold showed the Parks and Recreation Commission members Ms Cohen’s conceptual renderings of play structures, walkways, swings, a water play area, nature observation areas, boardwalks over wetlands, counselors’ buildings, bath houses, and more last month.

Offering her impressions of the design, she noted the concept was “fun,” “play valuable,” and had a similar “feel of what’s there” in the park already — a playscape, trails, recreational courts, a pavilion, fields, and borders of natural habitat spread on either side of Deep Brook, which meanders through the property.

“This is something to fit Dickinson and tie in with nature and will sprawl through the park,” she said. Ms Cohen’s drawing show different attractions and activity areas throughout the park. “It’s exciting. I think she captured what we’re looking for.”

Learning of the bonding moratorium, Ms Cohen still holds hope to find funds for a nature and environmental center, which is part of her plan for Dickinson. Although a “long shot,” she said, “There are grants for this type of project.” Regarding ideas for a nature center/classroom/hands-on environment, she said, “[Dickinson] is so perfectly set up for it.” She would love to see a boardwalk to the wetlands near the town open space and trails across the road from the skate park at the Deep Brook Road entrance. She believes the park could “turn into a place that isn’t like anything nearby. That would be my dream.”